Two Graves
by D. M. Evans
Summary: Stuck in town by a series of unfortunate events, Hakkai develops an interest in a series of killings while Goku finds a few friends
1. Chapter 1

Two Graves

D M Evans

Disclaimer – not mine. All rights belong to Kazuya Minekura et al, no profit made, just a little fun

Rating – FRT (for language and graphic violence in later chapters)

Timeline – hmm, let's say soon after the _Snow Drop_ arc, definitely manga verse

Pairing – none really, friendship between Goku/OC

Summary – Stuck in town by a series of unfortunate events, Hakkai develops an interest in a series of killings while Goku finds a few friends.

Author's Note – Thanks to Mjules and evillittledog for the beta

_He who seeks vengeance must dig two graves: one for his enemy and one for himself" - Chinese proverb _

Chapter One

"There is nothing we can do for it, I'm afraid," Hakkai said regretfully.

"Damn it!" Sanzo growled, tossing himself angrily onto a chair, nearly smacking his knee on the table in their suite.

"It's snowing, too," Goku put in, his voice tinged with worry as he gazed out the frosted window pane.

"Anything we can do for him?" Gojyo gestured with the tip of his Hi-Lite to the white dragon who had curled up on a pillow, his nose tucked under a leathery wing.

Hakkai shook his head. "I'm afraid Hakuryuu has a cold. He needs to rest. Some warm stew might help."

"I can get that," Goku offered, his face lit up with the prospect of food.

"You'll eat it before you even get it back here." Gojyo chuckled and the smaller man glared back.

"Why don't you go get it, Hakkai?" Sanzo reached for the day's paper which he hadn't read yet. "I'll stay here with Hakuryuu."

"All right," Hakkai said affably and followed his friends to the hotel's dining room.

"I'm so hungry I could eat a building," Goku informed the teen-aged waitress as she hustled up to the table.

"We don't serve those but I bet you'd like the _Shabu-Shabu_ or the _nikujaga_," she said brightly. "I'm Lan, your server."

Goku's gold eyes glinted and he nodded enthusiastically. "I'll take both of those and these too." He started naming off a laundry list of food stuffs.

Lan looked at him suspiciously. "Can you three possibly eat all that?"

"That's just for him, I'm afraid," Hakkai said, a rueful expression on his face.

Her dark eyes widened. "Oh!" She finally got their full order and disappeared to burden the cooks. She came back with their drinks, beer for Gojyo, sake for Hakkai and a soda for Goku.

Gojyo eyed the teen who had her raven hair in a thick braid interlaced with a purple ribbon. He favored her with his best smile as he lounged back on his seat. "I bet a lovely young lady like you has to have so many men, a guy like me wouldn't have a chance." Gojyo grinned around his cigarette.

Her chocolate eyes blinked slowly then her face lit like a red lantern. Her composure reassembled itself as a wicked smile flickered over her lips. "Yes, sir." Lan turned to Goku and favored him with the sexy expression Gojyo had been looking to elicit from her. "If you need more soda, let me know and save room for dessert. I help make them."

Goku turned huge happy eyes on her. "Dessert!"

"Try not to drool." Gojyo elbowed him. "It turns off the ladies."

"I doubt you have anything worry about, Miss. Goku would never skip dessert," Hakkai reassured her with a cheery grin.

"That's good to hear," Lan said then moved off to take care of her other tables.

Gojyo exchanged a sly glance with Hakkai. "I don't believe it. She's going to pass on all this." He outlined his head and chest with his hands. "To flirt with the monkey."

"What are you talking about? And I'm not a monkey, dickwad!" Goku glared over his soda.

"I think Gojyo might be right, Goku." Hakkai smiled gently. "I believe she does seem to be interested in you."

"Really?" Goku scanned the room for the young waitress. She smiled at him. Goku went red up to his diadem and grew amazingly interested in the table top. A small grin creeping across his face was the only hint he wasn't merely just embarrassed.

XXX

Sanzo looked up from his paper as Gojyo and Hakkai came back. Hakkai put a brown bag down on the table and took out some containers. "I brought you some ramen, Sanzo, and a nice bowl of sukiyaki for you, Hakuryuu." The sick dragon lifted his head and managed a tail thump at the news.

"I'd eat it now, priest, before the monkey gets back and realizes there's food," Gojyo said as Hakkai carried Jeep to the table, fussing over him as he set the dragon down on the table to eat. "Even if you do prefer to let it sit and get gross, you weird-ass. Oh and Goku's already put a huge dent in the gold card."

Sanzo winced. "Where is he?"

"I don't want to talk about it," Gojyo grumbled, taking out his cigarette pack. He tossed himself on one of the beds.

"That's only because the girl chose Goku over him," Hakkai appended cheerily.

Sanzo paused as he opened his dinner, something dangerously close to a grin touching his lips. "What?"

"I think it's time you had the big talk with your boy, Dad." Gojyo snorted, kicking back on the bed.

Sanzo's eyes glowed hot. "You're the one always bragging on your sexual prowess. You do it and get off my bed."

"No way. The monkey runt is your responsibility." Gojyo waved his hands frantically.

"Sanzo, Gojyo might have a good point," Hakkai said as Jeep ate. "You've said Goku was incarcerated in that mountain alone for years."

"Damn, can you imagine five hundred years without getting laid?" Gojyo shuddered then took a contemplative puff on his cigarette. "Ever wonder what the kid did to deserve that sort of hell?"

"I don't know," Sanzo replied softly, staring down at the ramen.

"Goku has surely seen some of the uh…hijinks some of us have gotten up to." Hakkai spared a side long look at Gojyo. "But how much he actually understands is up to debate."

"Hmm, good point, Hakkai. Well, you have the gentlest disposition, you talk to him." Sanzo said, sitting down with the noodles. "Unless all those math lessons with the chimp have left you scarred."

Hakkai's lips molded into his usual cheery yet frightening demeanor. "Maybe we should draw cards."

"No way in hell. You always win!" Gojyo protested.

Before Hakkai could press his point, Goku came back in, a happy sated expression on his face. He fell across the other bed, head dangling over the edge. "That was so good."

Gojyo sat up on his bed, a licentious glint in his sunset eyes. "Tell us all about it."

Goku's brow furrowed. "You never want to know about all the yummies. Besides you saw me eat most of it."

Gojyo scowled as Hakkai tried to swallow a chuckle. "You had a girl practically living in your lap, you stupid chimp. Don't tell me all you did was eat!"

Goku's puzzled look deepened. "We talked when most of the people were gone. She gave me two special desserts."

"You mean in addition to those egg custard tarts you ate?" Hakkai asked, suitably impressed.

Goku nodded. "Toffee apples and eight treasure pudding. I'm almost not hungry."

"Sanzo, we have to bring this miracle worker with us," Gojyo said, trying to sound dead serious and failing.

"Determined to punish her for turning you down?" Sanzo smirked.

"Whatever." Getting up from the bed, Gojyo looked out the window. "It's still snowing. Ah, screw this. I'm getting a shower and going to be early." He headed for the adjoining room.

Hakkai glanced over at Goku. "Please don't put your snowy feet on my bed, Goku." He jerked a finger in the direction of the other room.

Goku pouted. "I don't want to sleep in Gojyo's room."

"Oh, like I want you around. How am I supposed to bring home a lady with you snoring in the other bed?" Gojyo asked, gesturing at the boy.

"Maybe Goku should be asking you that," Sanzo offered deadpan.

"Bite me," Gojyo said, disappearing into the other room. Still pouting, Goku trailed after him.

"Good one, Sanzo." Hakkai sat down at the table with Sanzo and scratched Jeep between his shoulders. The dragon had curled up next to his empty sukiyaki bowl. Sanzo went back to absently eating and reading the paper. Hakkai squinted at the page facing him then reached for it.

Sanzo's violet eyes fixed on him. "Problem?"

"I'd like to see this article."

Sanzo let Hakkai peel off that layer of paper. The green-eyed young man scowled at what he read. Sanzo put his paper down. "That looks serious."

"They've found four young ladies bound, tortured and killed," Hakkai replied, taking in the details, such as they were, that the article offered.

"That doesn't sound like your typical youkai behavior," Sanzo observed, not as interested at Hakkai thought he should be.

Hakkai shook his head, trying to not picture his sister and what she went through. He failed, crossing his arms over his chest as if to ward off the pain. "Not necessarily."

"We don't have time to mess around with that, Hakkai. We keep getting distracted from our mission," Sanzo replied wearily.

Hakkai met his eye. "We're also snowed in with a sick mode of transportation. It wouldn't hurt anything if we at least found out a little more. If it is youkai, we could handle them before we leave."

Sanzo made a noncommittal sound and went back to his paper. Hakkai stared at the article, remembering the look on his sister's face when he found her in that cage. He tried very hard to not think about what had been done to her in the process of getting her pregnant but the article brought that all back in a rush.

Hakkai scooped up Jeep and put him in the bed before settling down himself. Given his unrest, Hakkai suspected Sanzo had wound up on the short end of the stick with the room assignments this time around.


	2. Befriended

Chapter Two

Gojyo stole Sanzo's pack of Marlboro Reds off the table and lit one. He lounged back, looking out the suite's window. "Still snowing."

Sanzo just looked at the cigarette. "Do you have a death wish?"

"I'm not going out there to buy more Hi-Lites." Gojyo gave the purloined cigarette a wilting look. "Tastes like shit. How do you smoke these?"

"Without a problem," Sanzo said, glancing over at the beds in the room. Hakkai still slept under the covers with Jeep curled up in the crook of his hip, his tail resting over Hakkai's legs.

Gojyo followed Sanzo's gaze and said quietly, "He's still upset."

"Maybe he's got what Hakuryuu's got." Sanzo shrugged. "We need to get out of here. We're always losing time."

Gojyo favored Sanzo with the gimlet eye. "He's not sick, Mr. Worldly Priest. Gah, you don't care about anything unless it revolves around you, do you?" Gojyo picked up the day's paper and rattled it. "These women who are getting raped and killed remind him of his sister. Did you ever think maybe he's upset?"

Hakkai sat up, swinging out of bed. "Did it ever occur to you two that I might just be tired? And that I might want a _quiet_ place to sleep that didn't smell like a bar?" He waved a hand at the white fog of smoke that hung in the room as he stomped off toward the shower.

Gojyo, eyebrows raised up under his headband, turned wide eyes on Sanzo. "See? Now that's not like Hakkai. He never yells at you."

Sanzo's lips pulled into a thin line. "He doesn't really yell, ever." He picked up the paper, settling his glasses on his nose as he looked at the article. "You might be right, kappa, and I don't say that every day." Ignoring Gojyo's sneer, he glanced back at the paper. "Hakkai wanted to look into this."

Gojyo nodded. "We're still stuck here. Even if it weren't snowing, Hakuryuu really is still sick." He snuffed out his cigarette. "Maybe it isn't doing his cold any good with us smoking in here."

"Maybe we should go have a look around. The fresh air," Sanzo looked longingly at his cigarettes. "will do us good. Where's the monkey?"

Gojyo pointed at the window then walked over to the glass. "Lan and some of her friends have him out there playing around. It's good for him. He still doesn't like snow much."

Sanzo's face wrinkled. "I know that." He got up and joined Gojyo at the window. In the hotel's courtyard, Goku and Lan were working earnestly together to beat out some other kids apparently trying to build the biggest snowman the fastest.

"Your boy seems to really like that girl." Gojyo smirked, wrapping an arm around Sanzo's shoulder. "Have you had that talk with him yet?"

Sanzo shoved him away. "I'm not doing that."

"Someone has to," Gojyo argued, the glee in his eyes intensifying.

"Do what?" Hakkai asked, coming back out of the shower, looking a little more relaxed. His damp hair clung to his forehead.

"Talk with Goku. I still say the monkey is Sanzo's responsibility. Better do it quick, Sanzo. One minute they're making snowman and the next they're making out." Gojyo grinned and Sanzo pulled out his gun. Gojyo backpedaled, hands up, nearly falling into the bed. "On the other hand, Hakkai, you were a teacher, you teach Goku about the birds and the bees."

Sanzo nodded, putting the gun away. Hakkai rubbed his forehead. "I suppose it would be better than whatever you might tell him, Gojyo. Poor Goku might have nightmares and unrealistic expectations for months."

They all jumped as a snowball splatted on the window. The three men crowded around the frosted panes, looking out to see snowman making had disintegrated into an every man for himself snowball fight. Gojyo opened the window and leaned out. "Hey, Lan! Monkey boy's pants are never belted on tight. Just get him down and you can load him up with snow."

Gojyo ducked as Goku whirled and fired a ball right through the open window at him. "Shut up, cockroach!"

Wagging his head, Hakkai shut the window just as another ball slammed into the glass. "Must you always goad him, Gojyo?"

"It puts the sparkle in my day." Gojyo scooped up the snow ball and headed for the sink. "He is playing nice though, isn't he? Goku's a hell of a lot stronger than those kids."

"He knows that," Sanzo said then turned to Hakkai. "We were about to go out and look around, to see if youkai are behind those deaths. Would you like to come with us?"

A grateful look flickered over Hakkai's face. "Yes, thank you."

More snow splattered on the side of the hotel. Sanzo looked over at Gojyo. "Why don't you stay here with Goku?"

Gojyo's lips skinned back. "What? I'm suddenly too stupid to help?" He shoved his hands in his pockets.

"Let's just say the monkey needs a sitter," Sanzo said, his lips twisting into a smirk.

Gojyo favored him with an unhappy look but pulled on his winter coat and gloves. He opened the window and jumped out. Scooping up some snow on the go, he pelted Goku.

Hakkai shut the window then cast a curious glance back at Sanzo. "It was Gojyo's idea to go look into this, wasn't it?"

"Don't want that kappa getting any delusions that he knows what's going on," Sanzo replied.

Hakkai sighed, watching Gojyo romping with the others. "He's good with kids. He'd make a good father some day."

Sanzo shuddered. "Thank you for tonight's nightmare, Hakkai." He picked up his cigarettes. "Come on, let's go."

"Hakuryuu, just get Gojyo's attention if you need something to eat," Hakkai said. The dragon just chirruped drowsily as Hakkai followed Sanzo out the door

X X X

As Lan waved goodbye to her remaining two friends, Balram and Kai, Goku flopped into a drift. "I'm cold and I'm hungry."

Lan twisted back around, grinning at him. "Is there anything that doesn't make you hungry?"

"Nothing in the known world." Gojyo laughed, picking the ice balls out of his long hair.

"Shut up, you red cockroach!" Goku flung a handful of snow at his friend.

"Well, I'm off today but I can get you a tray of something to eat. I'll bring it to your room," Lan offered.

"Yay!" Goku pumped a hand in the air.

"She already knows how to handle you, chimp." Gojyo snickered. "You're in trouble now."

"Huh?" Goku shot him a puzzled look.

"You are a wicked man." Lan wagged a finger at Gojyo playfully, a hint of blush riding her cheeks.

Goku snickered. "You're in just as much trouble."

Gojyo yanked Goku up out of the drift. "Why don't we go in and get warm? Do you need help getting him a snack, Lan?" He dusted the snow off of Goku.

"Get your pervy kappa hands off the goods!" Goku swatted at Gojyo.

Lan watched the exchange, amused. "Oh no, just give me a few minutes to get out of my wet clothes. Dad owns the hotel so I live here."

"Thanks, Lan," Goku said gratefully, his eyes already reflecting the upcoming feast.

He and Gojyo went back into their room to get out of their boots and snow encrusted clothes, tossing them into the tub to dry. Changed and warming, they went into Sanzo and Hakkai's room where the table was and the all important ashtray that wasn't a beer can.

"How're you doing, Hakuryuu?" Gojyo asked, patting the dragon's head.

The dragon trilled, stretched out all over the bed, then sneezed. Gojyo backpedaled fast.

"Ewww, glad he's on Hakkai's pillow." Goku made a face and Jeep answered with a noise of disgust.

"A pretty girl is bringing food, Hakuryuu," Gojyo said and the dragon perked up.

Several minutes and two cigarettes later, there was a knock at the door. Goku bounded across the room, thoughts of steamed buns bouncing around his brain. Lan didn't disappoint. She wheeled in a large cart loaded with food. "I just had Dad charge it to your tab."

"Smart move." Gojyo laughed, anticipating Sanzo's face when he finally saw the bill and planted the monkey with one strong blow from a paper fan.

"I brought a little of everything," Lan said, grinning at the eager look on Goku's face. "I figured after how much you ate last night, there's nothing you wouldn't eat."

"You are a perceptive young lady," Gojyo said as Goku attacked the covered platters. Gojyo elbowed him. "Manners, monkey. Pull a chair out for the girl." Goku shot him a confused look but complied as Gojyo scooped up a bun and a handful of _matcha_ _manju_. He spied some figs in a bowl and popped one into his mouth. "Figs, good call. Good luck with that." Gojyo grinned. The kid wouldn't know about figs making you good in bed.

"Huh?" Goku glared at him, knowing the kappa was mocking him but wasn't sure why. Lan looked equally confused.

Gojyo went into the bathroom and came out with his damp cloak. "You kids have fun. I'm going to go see what Hakkai and Sanzo are up to. Hakuryuu, you keep an eye on the monkey. If he misbehaves, bite him."

Goku grimaced around a mouthful of noodles. "Hey! Just go, you stupid kappa."

Gojyo laughed again and left them alone.

X X X

"That was soooo good," Goku sighed gustily as he finished off the last of the food, barring one bowl of treats Lan insisted had to be given to Jeep. "Thanks, Lan. This was a really good day."

"It was fun, wasn't it?" Lan reached over and touched Goku's thick, tousled hair. "All that snow has your hair standing up all over the place." She grinned at him.

Goku's eyes canted upwards but all he could see were his unruly bangs. "Is it that bad?"

"Go get your brush. I can fix you up." Lan encouraged him with a gentle shove. Giving her a strange look, Goku gave her a strange look but complied. Lan got up and took one of the extra blankets down from the closet. She grabbed up some of the remaining figs and went over to drape the blanket over Jeep. "Aren't you just the most amazing thing? Goku said you were sick but it looked like you liked that bowl of zoni. Here, have some snacks." She put the figs down and Jeep gobbled them up.

"Hey, I think he likes you," Goku said, sounding surprised.

"He's adorable. Here, sit." Lan pointed to the floor as she leaned forward and took the brush from him. "I'll brush your hair."

Goku complied, sighing softly as Lan slowly dragged the brush through his hair. It felt so good. Slowly, the realization that there was a feminine leg on either side of his head sank in. Flustered, Goku felt his face flush. What would Gojyo say? Scratch that, he already knew that answer. He heard the things Gojyo talked about to Hakkai and occasionally Hakkai would have something to add. Sanzo never talked much about girls. Maybe growing up in monasteries had something to do with that. Goku always found the temple stifling whenever Sanzo used to leave him alone.

Those confusing thoughts left, driven out by just how good it felt to have someone grooming him. Goku leaned into Lan's touch, his eyes closing. As far as he knew, he never had a mother. Maybe somewhere in those years before the cage that he didn't remember she existed, but somehow deep inside Goku knew she was never there. He'd gone from cage to monasteries to this journey and he could count on his fingers all the time he had spent with a girl. Maybe, Goku thought, he could get used to this sort of pampering.

"This would go more easily if we get this out of the way." Lan's fingers slipped under the edge of his diadem.

Goku lurched forward, jamming the diadem hard down on his head. "No!"

Lan's eyes widened and she nearly dropped the brush. "I'm sorry."

Goku twisted so he could look at her. He wasn't exactly sure how easy it would be to just pluck the power limiter off his head. He had done it himself without trouble but he wasn't sure about what others could do. After all, it stuck tight in a fight. No matter what, it couldn't be chanced. "Sorry, it's just…it has to stay. Is that okay?"

"Why?" she asked curiously.

Goku's head dipped. He couldn't tell her the real reason. It might scare her. Without his diadem, he even scared his friends. Not that they would admit it but deep down, Goku knew. "It's just …I don't like it touched, okay?"

Lan smiled and grabbed his shoulders, yanking him back against the bed. "Sure."

Goku leaned back again, letting her brush his hair more. He was half-asleep when her fingers took the place of the brush, rubbing circles on his scalp then down his neck and shoulders. He felt nearly boneless and as happy as if he had managed to find a place that served him all he could eat.

"So, why do you call your friend a kappa?" Lan's question woke him from his near doze as her fingers found a tight muscle between his shoulders and started worrying at it.

"Huh?" Goku made a face. He couldn't exactly tell her that Gojyo was half youkai. "There are reasons."

"You travel a lot, don't you?" Lan sighed happily, not prying into Goku's 'reasons.' "That must be so exciting. I'd love to do that."

Goku shrugged. "Mostly it's borin'. I'm stuck in the back of Jeep breathin' in Sanzo and Gojyo's cigarettes. Those things stink so much!"

"Tell me about your adventures!" leaned forward over his shoulder, tilted so she could meet his eyes.

Goku blinked for a moment. No one had ever really wanted to hear what he had to say. Sanzo usually just said 'silence or die' before hitting him and Gojyo just argued with him. Hakkai was the only one who really listened. "Really?"

Lan sat back on the bed and patted the mattress. "Come on, sit. I really want to hear. I've never been out of this village. I might never leave, you know. That's just how it is. I'd love to know what's out there."

"I've been all over." Goku thought about where to start his tale. The mountain was out of the question but there had to be things he could tell her that would entertain Lan. He sat on the bed as Jeep stirred, looking at them both curiously. Goku grinned, thinking of some of the adventures he could tell her. This could be a lot of fun.

X X X

"They're afraid," Hakkai said as he and Sanzo left the butcher shop that had been broken into and the first girl left hung on the hooks.

Sanzo looked over his shoulder at the place. The newspapers had been light on details but the butcher's assistant who had found the girl had been more than happy to share the nightmare he had witnessed. Gutted, burnt with what could be cigarettes and with one of the butcher's sausages shoved inside her, the girl had been left on display. "If what happened here is worse than what he told us, I can imagine why. Something doesn't sound right about this, Hakkai, beyond the obvious."

Hakkai nodded, pulling his cloak tighter. "It doesn't sound…" he shook his head. "What would a youkai gain from killing like this?"

"He's having fun?" Sanzo offered hesitantly. He sighed, his breath crystallizing around him. "I don't know what we hope to gain poking around into this. It's not our problem."

"We're stuck here until…" Hakkai started but Sanzo held up his hand.

"I know. I know why we should do it…only we're not detectives."

"The three Aspects did choose you to find and arrest me," Hakkai pointed out, some of his usual jovialness returning to his face. "Not to mention having you do other sorts of investigations for them."

"And everyone thought it was weird a priest was doing the work of law men, even though the Aspects have me doing it all the time." Sanzo tapped out a cigarette. "I still say I pissed off the Aspects somehow and finding you was punishment because you can't cut loose that damn kappa."

"Do my perfectly shaped and imminently lickable ears deceive me, or is some dirty priest talking about me again?"

Sanzo's fingers convulsed on the filter but he lit up anyhow. He refused to turn and look at Gojyo. "What are you doing here?"

"Well, it wasn't like you wanted to come in the first place. I thought I might be able to help," Gojyo said, a hint of bitterness sneaking into his tone.

"Where's Goku?" Hakkai broke in before Gojyo could really rile up Sanzo.

"Left him back at the hotel with Lan." Gojyo shrugged and his companions' eyes widened.

"You left him alone with a girl?" Sanzo growled.

Gojyo snorted, draping an arm around Sanzo's shoulders. "Hope you're ready to be a granddaddy."

"Idiot." Sanzo shoved him and Gojyo's foot hit ice. His arms windmilled before he went down.

Gojyo glared up at Sanzo then got to his feet, dusting off his wet backside. "Lan brought food so he's a happy monkey. You know what they say, three in a hotel room is a crowd. Unless it's two girls and a guy, I mean."

Hakkai tried not to let his amusement show as Sanzo's face darkened.

"Besides, I could probably help you two." Gojyo looked up, feeling something cold on his cheek. Fat snowflakes as heavy and wet as an exploded steamed bun started falling from the sky.

"We just left the shop where the first girl was displayed." Hakkai pointed it out. "It was a brutal slaying."

"And we saw the fountain in the town's center where the third girl was left. Whoever this is, he's a brazen bastard," Sanzo said, his eyes darkening.

"Any feeling for it being a youkai or not?" Gojyo flipped up his hood.

"The townspeople can't decide what they believe but we haven't seen the knee-jerk reaction of blaming youkai for every evil," Hakkai said, shivering a little and not entirely from the cold.

"This snow cannot get any thicker," Sanzo groused, taking a deep drag on his cigarette as if in defiance of the frozen precipitation.

"I think maybe we ought to give up our investigation for now," Hakkai said. "If the weather is going to turn inclement, there won't be a lot of people around for us to talk to."

"Just what the monkey wants, us coming home early." Gojyo smirked.

"If you've taught that monkey to be debauched, I'll…" Sanzo let the threat trail off seeing it had no effect on the kappa. Instead, he settled for a sharp whack with the fan.

"Well, I suppose that I've been out a good long time trying to find you two," Gojyo said, shrugging off the attack. "The chimp hasn't even hit puberty yet, right? How much trouble could he get into?"

Hakkai looked back in the general direction of the hotel. "I don't see any flames, so maybe we'll be all right."

Sanzo favored him with a sour look then set a brisk pace back to the hotel and out of the wet snow. It was nearly impossible to see through the snow by the time they got back in. They piled into the suite, all three trying to shove through at once. The men pulled up short seeing Lan and Goku at the table playing cards. Jeep was on his back in Lan's lap, swaddled in a blanket, contently eating _agemochi_ as the girl offered piece after piece.

"Oh dear," Hakkai remarked, rubbing the back of his head as he ogled the tableau.

"Is the monkey trying to teach you poker?" Gojyo asked incredulously. "He can't even get it right himself."

Lan nodded, beaming. "It's fun." Her eyes raked over Gojyo. "He doesn't look that fast. Are you sure he outran that irate father with the gun?"

Goku bobbed his head. "Naked…until he got stuck tryin' to squeeze through th' fence."

Gojyo went as red as his hair as he yanked Goku off the chair. "What have you been telling her, you stupid chimp?"

"Let me go, you perverted kappa!" Goku roared.

Sanzo swatted the both of them. "Silence or death, your choice." He shrugged out of his cloak and took off his boots.

"Goku has the best stories," Lan all but bounced on her chair, ignoring the men's antics with unusual ease. "You guys have interesting lives. I hope you don't mind if I feed your dragon. He was hungry."

Hakkai looked at the dragon, wondering if he'd get bitten if he interrupted the spoiling. "No, that's fine. He's been ill."

"I know. He has a cold, don't you?" She rubbed Jeep's head and he trilled. "I'm going to fix him up a big batch of soup tonight. And on that note, I'd better get to the restaurant. It might be my night off but I promised Jeep some soup and some goodies for Goku." Lan passed the dragon to Hakkai then wiggled her fingers at Goku. "It was fun. I'll see you later, Goku."

"Sure," Goku said enthusiastically, having escaped Gojyo's clutches. He grinned as she left then turned to Hakkai. "Did you know Hakuryuu liked havin' his belly rubbed, Hakkai?"

"Hmmm, I've never seen him take to strangers so well," Hakkai said, taking Jeep to the bed. He paused, seeing the messed up bedspread on his bed. He glanced over at Goku.

"So…you two just talked?" Gojyo asked and Goku nodded. "Then how did your hair get like that?" He pointed to Goku's smoothed out hair. Gojyo's eyes flicked over to the bed.

Goku scowled, Gojyo's implication not escaping him. "Lan fixed it for me. And she thinks my stories are cool." Goku went over to the table and scooped up his cards. He stomped into the other bedroom.

Sanzo paper fanned Gojyo again. "Quit teasing him."

"I'd like to know why _my_ bed has to be the one used," Hakkai sighed as Jeep untangled himself to go back to the table looking for scraps. "Though I suppose talking really is the only thing that went on."

"And now would be the perfect time for that big talk, Hakkai," Gojyo said, elbowing his friend. "Before it goes any further."

"I've done all I can to instruct Goku in various things." Hakkai waved his hands. "This really would be better coming from Sanzo."

Sanzo sat at the table, dragging the ashtray closer to him. He just shot Hakkai a disdainful look. Jeep chose that time to sneeze mightily, puffing the ashtray all over Sanzo's robes. Gojyo burst out laughing and promptly fled into the other room. Hakkai covered his mouth. Sanzo stood up, grimly eyeing the sick dragon. Trying to dust himself off only smeared the ash over his damp robes.

"Good shot." Hakkai snorted and scratched Jeep's head.

"You're paying for the laundry bill," Sanzo snapped, stomping out of the room heading for the shower.

X X X

"So if the snow gets any deeper, we'll be here 'til Spring," Gojyo said, earning himself a glare from Sanzo "But the monkey will probably be happy that way, seeing how his new girlfriend spoils him."

Goku stopped sucking the meat off some wild boar ribs long enough to yell, "Shut up, Gojyo!"

Sanzo expertly clipped Goku's ear with his fan. "Stop spraying food."

"And here she comes. Might want to chew with your mouth shut, monkey runt," Gojyo suggested.

Lan came over to the table carrying a container that she put in front of Hakkai. "_Dangojiru_ for Jeep."

"Oh, thank you. He's never eaten so well. He'll never want to leave." Hakkai smiled at Lan, his eyes flicking to the window. "Provided the snow ever stops."

"It is a nasty winter," she agreed. "How is everything? Do you have enough?"

"It's all very delicious," Hakkai said. "I thought you were off duty. You don't have to wait on us, Lan." He went to pour himself more sake but the carafe was empty.

"Pei-yi, they need more drinks over here!" Lan bellowed then leaned in and added. "She can be lazy. Don't let her get away with it."

"Hey, where's my custard bun?" Goku grumbled.

"You probably inhaled it," Gojyo said, flashing the sunny innards of what little was left of a custard bun tucked into his hand.

"That was on my plate!" Goku raged, yanking on Gojyo's antennae-like strands of hair.

Gojyo shoved him. "Prove it."

"Quit stealin' my food!"

"Who wants to die first for too much noise?" Sanzo slapped them both with the fan.

"Are they always so mean to you?" Lan rubbed the back of Goku's neck, sparing a death glare for Sanzo. "You don't have to put up with it, you know."

Goku looked over his shoulder in surprise. "It's okay."

"Getting hit is not okay." Her eyes narrowed. "A priest should know better."

Sanzo's violet eyes opened wide, the first sign he was paying the least bit of attention to the girl. Hakkai clamped a hand over his mouth, trying to hide a snicker at the priest's discomfort. Gojyo didn't bother.

"Nah, if Sanzo didn't hit me, then I'd worry." Goku's brow furrowed as if he wondered if that was as weird as it sounded.

Lan pouted, scanning the room. "I don't know where Pei-yi is. I'll go get you some more sake, Hakkai. Does anything need anything else?" Receiving negatives, Lan went off.

Gojyo whistled. "Don't go into an alley with her, Sanzo. You'll have that fan up your ass." He leaned back in his chair, contentedly, tucking his hands behind his head.

"She does seem protective of Goku," Hakkai said, leaning his elbows on the table, chuckling softly. "It's rather sweet."

"How many of those have you had?" Sanzo snorted, gesturing at the sake cup. "Just what we need, a doe-eyed girl."

"I like Lan," Goku protested, reaching for a bowl of finely sliced meat in sweet soy. "She wants me to go with her friends tomorrow, too. It's not like we're leaving, right?"

"I'm afraid not. Between deep snow and Hakuryuu's illness, we'll be here a day or so more surely," Hakkai said, shaking his head ruefully. Sanzo growled, snatching up his pack of cigarettes.

"Here you go," Lan said, bustling back with fresh warm sake. "Pei-yi is coming with more custard buns, Goku, enough for you and Gojyo."

"He'll still take them off my plate." Goku gave the kappa a sidelong look. "Just to irritate me."

Lan laughed then waved. "Oh hello Mr. Rakesh," she said as a tall man was seated at the table next to the Sanzo party's.

"Hello, Lan," he said pleasantly. Rakesh cut a handsome figure in his pale tunic against cinnamon skin.

"Pei-yi will be with you shortly," she assured him then turned back to the crew. "You don't mind if Goku comes with me and my friends tomorrow, do you? You don't need him to help you look into those deaths, do you?" she asked, not catching Rakesh's interested look.

"No, it's quite all right. You can have Goku," Hakkai said, smiling pleasantly at her.

"You can keep him," Gojyo added.

"What's that supposed to mean, cockroach?" Goku sneered but Gojyo waved him off.

"Pull up a chair, Lan," Gojyo offered, yanking a chair over from another table. He shoved it between him and Goku. "You don't have to stand."

She sat. "Thanks. I'm glad you're looking into this, too. It's so scary. I knew all those girls. There's only one school here and some of them went to class with me and one was older. Mr. Rakesh knew them all, didn't you, sir?"

"I'm afraid so," he said then turned when Pei-yi came to his table, nary a custard bun to be seen in her hands.

"Pei-yi! The custard buns!" Lan reprimanded. She shook her head. "Sorry about that."

"I'm sorry your friends got killed, Lan," Goku said, pausing for soda.

"Thank you, Goku." She patted his knee. His eyes widened. "It's scary. I mean…who might be next? I'm afraid to be by myself."

"I wouldn't let anything happen to you," he assured her earnestly.

Lan squeezed his knee. "Thank you. That's so sweet."

"Uh-oh is the monkey growing a romantic…bone." Gojyo waggled his eyebrows at Goku and Hakkai grinned broadly. Sanzo just sulked more.

"Quit calling me a monkey, cockroach!" Goku ordered, shaking his fist at Gojyo.

"They're like brothers," Lan said to Hakkai. "I have five and they're all like this."

"My condolences," Hakkai answered jovially as Pei-yi finally arrived with custard buns.

"There are days I could kill them," she said, her hand moving higher on Goku's leg. "But they're not so bad." Lan licked her lips then helped herself to a bun. "Did you find out anything at all?"

"I'm afraid not," Hakkai said, a cloud moving over his face.

"Oh." Lan's head bowed. "Wish you had. It would help…" she broke off as the room went dead silent upon the entry of two men; one young raven haired man and the other older with generous streaks of grey in his hair.

"Problems?" Sanzo asked, his hand sneaking into his robe after the Smith & Wesson.

"No, that's Shao, he's in charge of finding the killer and that's Tai-Shan, one of his detectives and my oldest brother," Lan said, dipping her head towards the men. "Everyone's mad and disappointed they haven't caught whoever it is. Some say it might be a youkai and that they'll never catch him. Others think it has to be a stranger in town…so watch yourselves."

"We're good at that," Gojyo assured her with an easy grin.

Tai-Shan's eyes caught his sister's as he walked past to sit two tables away. His gaze flicked down to her hand on Goku's thigh and he waved her over. Sighing, Lan left the table, giving Goku's shoulder a pat as she did. "So that's the one you were telling me about," he said, looking over at Goku then asked loud enough to be heard by the foursome, "Kind of small, isn't he?"

Lan slapped his chest. "Be nice." She rejoined Goku's table. "Occasionally it is okay to hit." Lan gave them a quirky smile

"Sanzo just thinks every occasion is the right one," Gojyo said, earning a slap by the fan.

"With the likes of you, it is," Sanzo said, getting up. "I'm going back to the room."

"Yes, I should get this to Hakuryuu while it's warm," Hakkai said, rising. "Come along, Gojyo."

"But my beer," the kappa protested, more interested in teasing the teens than malted liquor.

"Oh, take them and the sake, too. We'll send someone up to get the cups later," Lan offered. "Why don't you finish eating, Goku. I'd love to hear more of your stories." She propped a hand under her chin, smiling at the boy.

"Sure!" Goku's gold eyes lit up then squawked as Gojyo stole one last bun.

The kappa dawdled until Hakkai dragged him out of the restaurant.


	3. fearfulness

Chapter Three

"Hey, monkey, you ever waking up?" Gojyo's voice followed the pillow that slammed into Goku's face.

The boy yawned widely, rubbing his eyes. "Huh?"

"You have a girl who wants you to go with her. You might want to shower," Gojyo suggested helpfully. His garnet eyes gleamed wickedly.

"I was having such a nice dream and you woke me," Goku pouted, contemplating going back to sleep.

"Whatever." Gojyo grabbed his cigarettes and headed for the door to the other room. He looked back, gesturing at Goku. "Nice tent by the way." Gojyo turned back to the door, heading through muttering, "Hope to hell he wasn't dreaming about food…"

Goku felt his face turning red as he glanced down at the morning wood poking the covers up. "Damn."

X X X

"Is the monkey moving?" Sanzo asked as Gojyo entered his and Hakkai's room.

"Eventually." Gojyo snorted, fishing for his cigarettes. "He might be a little slow this morning."

"He's a little slow every morning unless you threaten no breakfast," Sanzo said, not looking up from his paper.

Gojyo tossed himself into a chair and dragged the ashtray over for a morning cigarette. "Anything more about those girls?"

Hakkai shook his head as Jeep sneezed, cat-like. "It seemed to be a quiet night."

"Unless you count all the new snow," Sanzo said sourly, his eyes flicking towards the window.

"Gah, just relax, will you?" Gojyo said, letting the smoke roll around his mouth before letting it out. He felt almost alive. "We're stuck. Live with it. I say we just enjoy ourselves. Not everyone's soft between the legs like you…which is why we're a little slow in the morning."

Sanzo peered over the edge of his paper and Hakkai's green eyes widened. "Oh…well, maybe we should go check on breakfast. Hakuryuu could use some nourishment."

"Breakfast?" Goku darted out of the shower room, a towel still on his head. "I'm almost ready."

Gojyo glanced at Goku's boxers. "I know you're eager to see your new girl but they usually prefer if you wear pants for at least a little while. Shirts are optional."

Red-faced, Goku threw the towel at him and stomped into the other room.

"And she passed up me to get to him." Gojyo wagged his head.

"Why wouldn't she? The monkey's almost innocent, and more or less biddable if you give him food," Sanzo said, taking a long drag on his cigarette. "You're demented and most intelligent women wouldn't touch you with someone else's hand."

"Ooo, good one, Sanzo," Hakkai said, ignoring Gojyo's glower to add. "Goku can be rather sweet when he wants to be, Gojyo. You're more…cigarettes and beer."

Gojyo leaned his head back, blowing smoke rings. "This is going to be a fun day, I can just tell."

Goku came back in fully dressed, brown hair sticking up all over like dandelion fluff around his diadem. They all headed down to breakfast. The crowded restaurant forced them to cram onto a table almost too little for four. Another new waitress came over with bowls of congee and fried devils as that was all they served for breakfast.

"Goku!" Lan called, wending her way around the tables, waving a flute over her head. "We'll go as soon as you're done eating."

"You can actually finish eating? I bet the monkey didn't know that," Gojyo said and Goku glowered around his fried donut.

"He just has a healthy appetite," Lan said dismissively, tossing back her long hair, a blue ribbon threading through the braid this time.

"Is that what we're calling the bottomless pit now?" Sanzo asked, swishing the fried devil in his congee.

Lan just gave the older men sour looks then beamed at Goku. "I'm going to pay you back for all those stories. I'm going to play for you. I'm not bad with the flute. Oh, let me go get you something for Jeep, Hakkai. He'll eat congee, won't he?"

Hakkai beamed at her. "Yes, thank you."

"Bet she's good with the flute," Gojyo said once she was out of earshot. He squashed Goku's head down on the table. "You gonna find out, monkey?"

"Huh?" Squirming away from him, Goku popped a hunk of fried dough into his mouth then flushed. "Like I'd tell you!"

"Oh, so it wasn't food you were dreaming about this morning," Gojyo said, looking rather relieved. A devilish expression chased the relief from his face. "Has Sanzo had that big talk with you yet? Betting not. Better hurry Mr. Worldly Priest before it's too late," he added before it degenerated into his and Goku's usual name calling and shoving.

The sound of the gun cocking was nearly lost in the crowded room. "Silence or death!" Sanzo ordered.

"It's too crowded for guns," Hakkai said placatingly, waving his hands. A startled gasp sounded next to Hakkai's ear as Sanzo eased the hammer down. Hakkai looked up into Lan's surprised face. "Don't worry, Lan, Sanzo won't really shoot them."

"I won't?" Sanzo put the gun away.

"You have a gun? Aren't you a priest?" she asked, setting a container down in front of Hakkai. Her eyes hardened.

"I was going to ask the same thing," Rakesh said from the next table over where he was finishing his tea. The man's presence startled them. "The things one sees. Well, I'd best get to the school. I think you caught the law men's attention." The nosy teacher pointed to Lan's brother and Shao, his superior who were making their way over to Sanzo's table.

"Is there a problem?" Tai-Shan asked, his expression caught between curious and irked.

"Sorry, no. They just get a little rambunctious," Hakkai said hurriedly. "Some priests have….different ways of disciplining their followers." He ignored Sanzo and Gojyo's 'what the hell' looks.

"Come on, Goku," Lan said, dragging Goku up. "We're going to have fun." She hauled him away, him grabbing for more fried devils.

"I think she doesn't want you scaring off another suitor," Shao said with a smile.

Tai-Shan snorted then looked at the remains of the party. "I was going to say that if the little guy is traveling with a priest he can't be too bad." He eyed Sanzo as Gojyo nearly choked on his congee. "But I'm not so sure."

"Goku's a good boy. Lan won't find a fiercer protector," Hakkai assured the protective young man, spreading his hands.

"He's a dim little monkey. Your sister seems smart. She'll probably get tired of Goku before you have anything to worry about," Sanzo added and Tai-Shan's eyes widened as the bluntness.

"We'd better go," Shao said. "We have interviews to conduct." Tai-Shan nodded and followed him out of the room.

"So…how long do you think it will take before that man arrests Goku on general principles?" Gojyo smirked and his companions just groaned.

X X X

"You've never been sled riding?" Lan asked Goku in disbelief as all the teens climbed the biggest hill outside of town, lugging sleds behind them.

"Did you grow up in the flats or something?" Maidar, one of Lan's friends asked, tugging his hat firmly down on his head.

Goku shook his head. "Never liked the snow much."

"Now's not the time to say so," Intan said as she caught Balram's hand. She gave Goku a curious look. "But you liked building the snowmen yesterday."

"I'm learning to like the snow. What do we do now?" Goku asked eagerly, eyeing up the slope.

"Easy, get on the sled behind me," Lan said, sitting down on the sled. She patted the polished wood behind her. "And hold on."

"First one all the way to the bottom is the winner," Balram cried, his breath rising like a cloud around him. He pulled Intan on the sled behind him

Goku got on the sled behind Lan and thought for a moment how it sort of felt good to be sitting where he was, with her between his legs. He kept his grip loose around her waist. Lan smelled sweet even through all the layers of clothing. Goku liked it. Lan twisted around saying, "Help push off."

Startled, Goku's strong legs propelled them out in front of everyone. The sled seemed tame for a moment then they picked up speed. Lan whooped as the sled careened downhill. A sudden dip sent them both flying free and Goku found himself plowing his own trail to the bottom, face down in the snow. At least his power limiter showed no signs of popping free. As a sled whizzed past him at the bottom, sending up a plume as it stopped, Goku lifted his face out of the snow, clumps of it sliding off his reddened cheeks. "I got here first," he told Maidar and Intan's sister, Jiao, who rode behind him.

"It only counts if you stay on the sled," Maidar informed him, lobbing snow at Goku.

"Now you tell me," Goku groaned, dusting snow out of his thick hair.

"Race you back to the top," Balram said, thumping his way back up sled in hand.

The second trip to the bottom ended up much like the first. The third resulted in Lan and Goku rolling to the bottom together with Lan coming to rest on top of his chest. She smiled down at him, her red-tipped nose almost touching his. "I think you're getting the hang of this." She laughed, tapping his nose with her gloved finger.

Goku snorted, in no real hurry to get up even thought the snow was soaking through his pants. He liked Lan sitting where she was, her breath crystallizing the air around them. Goku thought he was beginning to understand all of Gojyo's babbling. "I'll get it right," he promised quickly, pouting a little when Lan climbed off of him.

Sledding, Goku found out, had something to do with balance. Once he'd figured that out, and successfully piloted the sled down the hill. Soon enough, Balram and Maidar upped the stakes. While the girls looked on, the boys built a ramp to add excitement to the hill.

"Bet we can do cool flips or something," Maidar said excitedly, packing in the snow.

"Bet you can break a leg too," Lan put in, amused.

"That's what makes it fun." Balram beamed.

Lan shook her head, looking at her girlfriends. "Which one do you think gets maimed first?"

"My money's on Goku," Intan said, waving a gloved hand at the boys. "He wipes out the most."

"Aww, too bad, he's kinda cute," Jiao said, admiring Goku as he worked on the ramp with the other boy. "You sure you want him, Lan?"

"Yes. You have Maidar," Lan reminded her, shoving her lightly.

Jiao shrugged. "He's more interested in you."

"You think?" Lan tapped her lip with a gloved hand. "Guess it doesn't really matter. Goku's just traveling through. Sort of sad."

"Have fun while he's here. Though, he's a little too dim to keep around for long," Intan said, ducking when Lan tossed snow at her.

"That's mean. He's sweet," Lan said crossly, glancing Goku's way.

Goku wondered if they knew he could hear them. Did Lan think he was stupid, too? Why did that hurt a lot more coming from the girls than when Gojyo or Sanzo said it?

"At least it feels good just to come out and have fun," Lan said, absently picking hunks of snow from her long braid. "Without having to worry about all those bad things that are happening." She raised her voice. "Goku, your friends are trying to help my brother figure out who's been killing those girls right?"

"Yeah," Goku said, glancing over his shoulder at the girls.

"Oh, let's not talk about scary things," Intan said with a shudder.

"We'll protect you," Balram assured her and she smiled back.

"Got the ramp done. How's that for not scary thing?" Maidar eyed the ramp appreciatively. "Balram you go first."

Balram aimed his sled for the ramp, promptly planting himself face first into the ramp without even getting airborne.

"Now who has the dim boyfriend?" Lan elbowed Intan who covered her face in embarrassment.

Several mishaps later, the boys got the ramp halfway mastered and tried to add to their reckless airborne antics. Goku went over it, flipping up one handed onto the curled lip of the sled as he went sailing over the crest of the ramp.

"Now that was just cool," Balram said, as the girls gave glove-muffled applause. Maidar just glared, jealous.

Goku carted the sled back up to his companions. "Is this making anyone else hungry?" he asked hopefully.

"We'll go for lunch in a bit. Tell me how you did that," Balram demanded.

"It was really nice," Jiao said smiling at Goku, ignoring the annoyed looks both Lan and Maidar shot her.

"It's easy. You just sort of do a hand stand." Goku demonstrated on the curve of the sled again. "Then lift a hand." Goku balanced on the finger tips of one hand, making it look easy.

"As if Maidar or Balram could even do a handstand." Jiao laughed.

"Pity because that's pretty," Lan said, her pupils dilated. Intan nodded.

Balram and Maidar exchanged grim glances, not missing that they didn't have the girls' full attention. They weren't used to not being the center of attention. "Give the hill a try like that," Maidar said, spitefully kicking the sled into play.

Goku yipped and ended up spiraling off into the snow.

Levering herself up, Lan pushed Maidar who looked stunned. "Boys."

Goku charged furiously back up the hill, angry at being shoved. He might not fully grasp Maidar's jealousy but he knew a challenge when it slapped him in the face. "Hey! Why'd you do that?"

Lan stepped between him and Maidar, laying her gloved hands on his chest. "Forget him," she said and Goku could see the anger in the other boy's eyes at being ignored. "I'm hungry. Want to go get something to eat?" She took his hand, tugging at it

Goku's golden eyes narrowed at Maidar but food sounded better than fighting. Besides, he could tell Lan didn't want him to. "Food is always good."

"I was hoping you'd say that." Lan looped an arm in his.

"Come on, I know someplace good that's close," Balram said, patting Maidar on the back.

The calm restored, the teens headed off in search of lunch.

X X X

"I liked your music, Lan," Goku said as they went inside the hotel room. "It was really pretty."

"Thanks. I enjoy spending time with you, Goku. It's fun. I wish you weren't going to leave soon," Lan said then waved at Jeep who stirred on Hakkai's bed.

"Sorry, it's just we have something important we have to do," Goku said, almost regretting that. He liked being 'normal' even if he knew it was an illusion.

"I know but I plan on making the most of our time." Lan smiled at him as she glanced around the room for his friends. "I wonder where your friends are."

"Probably out looking into the deaths of those girls. It's really upset Hakkai. His sister was killed a few years ago," Goku said, wondering if he should. Well, it wasn't like it was a secret, right?

Lan's eyes widened, her fingers drifting to her mouth. "Oh, that's terrible. He seems like a nice man. At least he doesn't call you names."

"The others aren't so bad," Goku said, wishing Sanzo would hit him less. He figured that was just how Sanzo showed affection.

She shrugged. "I have to go. I promised Dad I'd pick up something for him in town. I have to work dinner tonight but I'm sure I'll see you there."

"Okay." Goku liked the idea of seeing her again and didn't want her to go now. It was a curious feeling for him, the desire to be close to someone.

Lan darted in and kissed Goku's cheek, startling him. She smiled again and disappeared out the door. Touching his cheek, Goku flopped back on Hakkai's bed, looking over at Jeep. The dragon seemed to be smiling at him. "That was…" Goku grinned. "Still, this being nice to girls stuff is hard. She and her friends think one bowl of yakisoba is enough for lunch. It's madness but I didn't want her to get mad or embarrassed. Even Balram and Maidar didn't eat all that much." Goku's nose wrinkled, remembering the easy brashness those two boys had and how the girls seemed to enjoy having them around, even Lan. Did he even fit in at all with normal people? "Can that be normal, Hakuryuu?"

Jeep just cheeped at him and Goku scratched the dragon's neck. Just then the door opened and Goku's companions stomped in, snowy up to their knees. Sanzo looked particularly furious about it.

"Oh, look, on your bed again, Hakkai," Gojyo snickered, jerking a thumb at Goku.

"Where is Lan?" Hakkai asked resigned, sitting at the table.

"She had errands to run." Goku got off the bed. "Sanzo, I'm hungry. She only let me have one plate of yakisoba."

"Wait until dinner, you bottomless pit," Sanzo said, uninterested.

"I might _die_ by then," Goku groaned but found no pity. He sighed. "Did you learn anything today?"

"I'm afraid not," Hakkai said, rubbing his now-bared feet, trying to get circulation back in them. "This person is very good at covering his tracks."

"That sucks. Lan's scared and I don't like that." Goku glowered.

"Hey, you're right, Hakkai, he can be sweet." Gojyo reached over and ruffled Goku's hair, then his face sobered. "None of us like it, kiddo. What this guy does ain't right. Human or youkai, we need to take him down."

"Which isn't going to happen unless we find his trail." Hakkai's head bowed, letting go of his reddened feet. "Those poor girls…I can't imagine their fear in their last minutes."

Goku went over and put a hand on Hakkai's shoulder. "If anyone can do it, it's you and Sanzo."

"Thank you, Goku." Hakkai pulled some papers out of his pocket, missing Gojyo's glower at being left out of those smart enough to help. "Maybe if I just concentrate on my notes, I'll see a pattern I've missed."

"Don't be too hard on yourself, Hakkai. It's not like the law men here have done better and they've been at it longer," Gojyo said. "And they have the advantage of this being their home territory."

"The kappa has a point." A contemplative look veiled Sanzo's face. "Two in as many days. The world must be ending."

"That's it, I need a beer." Gojyo flashed Sanzo an obscene gesture. "So, chimp, was she any good with the flute?"

"Yeah, she was."

"I just bet," Gojyo said salaciously as he went into his and Goku's room.

"What? I know you mean something bad," Goku stomped after him.

Hakkai sighed. "If you let it go any longer, Sanzo, Gojyo really will tell Goku all he needs to know and nothing good can come from that." He gave the priest a look, a hint of humor playing peek-a-boo in his eyes. "You do know how, right?"

Sanzo's face darkened. "Don't make me fan you."

Hakkai just grinned and turned back to this notes.

X X X

"So is the excited look for dinner or Lan?" Gojyo asked Goku as they sat down in the dining hall.

"Do you even have to ask?" Sanzo asked wearily.

"Maybe the chimp's growing up," Gojyo suggested but no one looked convinced.

"Eat me, ass face," Goku growled, looking around for Lan but she was nowhere to be seen. Pei-yi waited on them again with her customary inefficiency.

Lan's father, Huan, came over to their table once they were mostly done with dinner, barring the usual eating contest between Gojyo and Goku. "Have you see, Lan? I know she went out with you today, boy."

Goku put his skewer down, shock in his gold eyes. "Yes, but we came back hours ago. She said she had to go to town for you. She's missing?" Goku's voice pitched up in octave.

"I haven't seen her since she left with you. I thought she must have come back. Her flute is in her room and I saw her with it this morning but…I thought maybe she had gone back to your room. She knows I wouldn't approve of that but…" Huan trailed off, fear in his eyes.

Goku shook his head. "No, she didn't stay. I haven't seen her since she went back to town. She said she would see me at dinner." He clamped a hand over his mouth, feeling his belly flip. "I should have gone back with her. I know she was scared to be by herself." Goku twisted on his seat, grabbing Sanzo's sleeve. "Sanzo, we have to…"

"Flashlights?" Sanzo asked the distraught father.

"I'll get you some. You think something's happened to her? I've sent for Tai-Shan already," Huan said, his fear nearly palpable.

"We'll help him look for her," Hakkai said, his cheery expression thoroughly melted from his face.

"Damn," Gojyo whispered, putting a hand on Goku's shoulder, feeling the boy tremble.

"We have to find her," Goku said, drawing himself up to his full height, his clenched fists shaking.

Armed with flashlights, dinners setting like stones in their stomachs, the companions headed out into the cold, deep snow. Gas lights threw eerie shadows as they walked the town, calling Lan's name. No one ever answered back. They ran across Tai-Shan and his men several times as well as other villagers pitching in to help. A few vagrants and ladies of the evening crossed their paths but of Lan, there was no sign.

"We should head in," Hakkai said finally as false dawn started lightning the sky.

"But we haven't found her yet," Goku protested and Hakkai shot him a pitying look.

Gojyo draped a brotherly arm around Goku, pulling him close. He bent down and said softly, "Goku, she's not out here. Someone would have found her by now and we can't just go around breaking down doors looking for her."

"I know but…I feel like I'm abandoning her. You go. I'll stay out just a little longer. I can do this myself," Goku said, pulling away from Gojyo.

"Are you sure, Goku?" Hakkai asked. "Well, I guess we could look a little longer."

Goku's shoulders slumped. "Thank you, guys."

"If I'm getting frost bite, we should at least have a plan," Sanzo said. "Butcher shop, fountain, stables, there's no rhyme to this man," he added, addressing for the first time what they all thought; the killer had her.

"The school, they all went there. Let's look there again," Goku suggested and no one gainsaid him.


	4. The Worst Happens

Chapter Four

Gojyo sat up, hearing the door between the rooms opening. He doubted he'd been asleep an hour and from how quickly Goku sat up, the half-breed didn't think the boy had slept at all.

"Did they find her?" Goku asked hopefully but Gojyo could see the kid tremble as he read Hakkai's face.

"They found her, on the steps of the town shrine," Hakkai said gently, his hands clenched into fists.

Goku's gold eyes dimmed, disbelief washing over him like a tidal wave. "But we looked there, Hakkai. We looked everywhere. She wasn't there."

"I know, Goku. He must have known where we all were in the town and moved her there when everyone went home," Hakkai explained, his hand skimming over Goku's head comfortingly.

Sanzo peeked around the door frame. "He must have been out there with us." Coming inside the room, Sanzo first clasped Goku's shoulder then touched Hakkai's back. "We should go."

"We're going to see if there's anything we can do to help," Hakkai explained for his friends' benefit. "Gojyo, could you stay here with Goku?"

"You don't have to ask," Gojyo said, his face grim.

"But I want to help, too," Goku protested, struggling to his feet.

Hakkai gently pushed Goku back down. "We heard from the townspeople, not the paper. They haven't moved her body yet, Goku. It was the killer…and you don't want to see her like that, do you?" Hakkai's eyes gleamed with pain.

Goku shook his head, tears trickling over his cheeks. "Sanzo, we're not leaving here until we find who killed her."

"That's the plan," Sanzo assured him, almost taking the boy by surprise.

"Thank you," Goku muttered, watching them go. He curled up, pressing his knees to his chest where he sat on the edge of the bed, a raw sob tearing out of him. Gojyo got up and sat next to him. He put his arm around Goku. The boy unfurled slightly, looking at Gojyo as he scrubbed a hand over his eyes. "I feel stupid for bawling like a baby."

Gojyo pulled Goku closer, dropping his head down against Goku's thick mass of hair. "It's okay to cry sometimes. My brother taught me that. You lost a friend."

Goku shuddered, tears still trickling. "But I barely knew her…and yet it still hurts so bad."

Gojyo's hand rubbed up and down Goku's tense back. "Sometimes time doesn't matter, kiddo. You liked her. Hell, you never get a chance to make many friends, stuck with the rest of us losers. You've seen a lot of death but mostly your friends make it out okay. This time is different. You know what kind of horrible things this person did to that sweet girl. So, don't fight it. Cry if you need to."

Goku wrapped his arms tight around Gojyo, weeping against his friend's chest. He didn't see the anger flashing through Gojyo's eye, a hot fury for a life taken far too soon.

X X X

"This is not good," Sanzo said, seeing a crowd in the courtyard gathered outside their hotel windows.

"You are a master of understatement, Sanzo," Hakkai said, hurrying as best he could on the icy sidewalks. Shao hadn't allowed them to get too close to the murdered girl, not that the refusal took them by surprise. They hadn't seen Tai-Shan, either, but assumed he might be home consoling his family. What Hakkai hadn't anticipated would be that the young man would have gathered what sounded like a lynch mob, demanding for Gojyo to send Goku out of the room. Gojyo's rude remarks were lost to the noise of the crowd. "What is going on?" Hakkai demanded loudly.

"There's one of them!" someone cried, arms flailing in Hakkai and Sanzo's direction. "No one we know could do things like this."

"But one of them is a priest," someone protested and a murmur went up as the mob took a gander at Sanzo's robes.

"And we weren't even in town when the killings started." Sanzo pushed into the crowd, heading for Tai-Shan. He glared at the law man. "And you know it."

"What I know is that the last time anyone saw my sister, she was with him!" Tai-Shan stabbed a finger at the window where Goku and Gojyo watched the crowd.

"I didn't hurt Lan. I couldn't do things like that," Goku cried through the glass.

"It has to be strangers. No one who knew those girls could do that," someone else asserted and the crowd muttered its approval of that idea.

"And Goku was out there looking for Lan all night," Hakkai said to Tai-Shan. "You saw him. He wasn't alone. Do you think all of us had a hand in this? Days before we even came to this town?"

"Enough!" At the sharp bark, the crowd's attention shifted. Huan stalked up to his son. "We don't need this. Do you think your sister would want," he gestured to the crowd. "this? They came after the first three girls were killed. That young man did not kill your sister."

"Are you so sure, Father?" Tai-Shan's entire demeanor thrummed with his agony and Hakkai knew the young man wasn't thinking straight. He had to trust that Huan could talk sense to his child.

"They could have been staying somewhere else!" someone shouted. Another cry of approval went up from the crowd.

"And could we have missed their vehicle, or the dragon he has?" Huan gestured at Hakkai. "Or that one of them is a priest who smokes and drinks? That sort of gossip couldn't have been hidden. They were not here when the first three girls died. Now please, go home. Leave me and my family to our grief." At Huan's demand, the crowd started to shuffle off

"Who knew your immoral ways would be our saving grace, Sanzo," Hakkai whispered.

"Gojyo is rubbing off on you," Sanzo growled back edging toward the window.

"Let's go inside, son." Huan laid his hand on his son's shoulder.

"Do you want us to leave the hotel?" Sanzo asked. "We will if you want us to."

Huan looked back at him. "Where would you go? The only other inn is a place I wouldn't allow dogs to stay in. We have enough staff to run this establishment while my family grieves. You may stay."

The window creaked open and Goku leaned out. "Is it okay now?"

Sanzo rested a hand on Goku's shoulder. For a moment the priest regarded Goku's red, swollen eyes then gently pushed the boy back and climbed inside. "It's okay."

Goku squeezed Sanzo's arm briefly then leaned out the window again to address Lan's family. "I'm so sorry about Lan. I really am. I want…I don't want to leave until we find who did this to her. I want to help."

"I still need to talk to him," Tai-Shan gestured to Goku. He still didn't look like he entirely believed that Goku was innocent. "You really want to help? Come with me."

"Why should trust you?" Gojyo asked, protectively laying a hand on Goku's shoulder.

"He's the last person I know of who saw my sister. He was with her all morning, right?" Tai-Shan asked and Goku nodded. "He may have seen someone hanging around watching them. He knows who else was with him and my sister. I don't. Maybe if he takes me through the morning, it'll turn up a clue," he added beginning to sound more like the detective he was.

"I…I could do that," Goku said hesitantly, almost as if expecting a trap then remembered there wasn't much one human could do to hold him. He was far stronger than that.

"I'll go with you, Goku," Hakkai said, shooting Tai-Shan a look that dared him to say no.

Goku pulled on his cloak then climbed out the window. Hakkai rested a hand on the boy's shoulder as they followed Tai-Shan into town. Sanzo slumped down at the table fumbling for his cigarettes. Gojyo shoved a lighter at him and Sanzo sucked on the filter until the cigarette flared.

"Terrible," Gojyo said, looking tired and somehow older.

"Goku yelled at me once for torturing a murdering youkai that had already poisoned me. For anyone to think he could have taken that girl apart like that…" Sanzo shook his head and neither man mentioned what Goku could do without his limiter. It wasn't an issue. Constrained, Goku was easily the sweetest among them, even with his penchant for fighting. Sanzo stared at the still wet stain on Gojyo's shirt. "You held him together."

"Couldn't let the runt go to pieces," Gojyo said sardonically, taking a drag on his cigarette. "But he is, inside. This took the knees out from under him. When the numb and the pain wear off, he's gonna want revenge."

Sanzo shrugged. "Then we help him get it."

X X X

They came back from eating at a restaurant several blocks from their hotel, a small out of the way place, hoping no one would recognize them. If anyone had, nothing was made of it. No one had much of an appetite and Goku barely said two words through the meal. As they entered the hotel, they saw Huan and Tai-Shan standing outside their door preparing to knock.

"Oh, forgive the intrusion," Huan said, seeming somehow embarrassed and nervous.

"Is there something we can do for you?" Hakkai shot the men a curious look.

"I wanted to speak with you about Lan's funeral. I don't have a lot of money to pay you Sanzo, but if you were …" Huan said and Sanzo held up a hand.

The priest glanced over to Goku who regarded him with wide, reddened eyes. "I don't do death rites but I do sing sutras for those left behind. You don't have to pay me."

Huan's shoulders slumped with relief. "Thank you, sir."

"Was I any help?" Goku asked Tai-Shan, cutting off anything Sanzo might have had to say to that.

The young man shook his head, looking aged a decade since the morning. "Not yet." He gave Goku a hard look. "I'm sorry if I was unreasonable or too rough on you."

"It's okay. I mean, you listened to what I had to say and you know most of it's the truth since you can ask Lan's other friends. They'll tell you the same. I wish I could have done more. I know you have to be pissed," Goku said, his shoulders slumping. "And sad and stuff."

"You couldn't understand if you haven't lost a sister," Tai-Shan said sharply.

"My sister was kidnapped, tortured and ultimately killed," Hakkai said softly. "It's why I started looking into this."

Huan and Tai-Shan both favored Hakkai with sad looks. The son said, "Then you know…and I'm sorry that you do."

"Thank you." Hakkai favored them with a sad smile, his green eyes fading in brilliance.

"Thank you for your help. We won't bother you further," Huan said and he led his son off.

Sanzo opened the door and Hakkai went to give Jeep his meal. Goku kicked off his snowy boots and pushed past them all. "I'm…" the boy sighed. "I'm just exhausted."

"Go get some sleep," Sanzo said, patting Goku's back. "There's nothing more you can do tonight."

Goku just bobbed his head and went into the other room. Gojyo sat at the table and lit up. "I thought that mob was going to try and kill Goku and I had no idea what he might do." Gojyo wrinkled his nose. "He didn't look interested in putting up a fight."

"I think he blames himself," Hakkai said, running a hand through his hair. "I know how it feels. I wasn't there when they took Kannan. I know logically that it wasn't my fault but it feels like it. If Goku hadn't let Lan go back into town, he thinks she'd be alive."

Gojyo nodded, taking a long drag. He gave Sanzo a hard look. "You are going to see this through, Sanzo, right? You're not going to call it off as soon as Hakuryuu feels better."

Sanzo didn't look at the redhead, taking his gun out for a cleaning. He seemed eager to put it to use. "We may never find who did this. They've been looking long before we got here. But, we'll stay as long as reasonable."

"Good." Gojyo snuffed out his cigarette. "I'm making it an early night, too. We were all out in the snow searching last night and…" He shrugged, glancing toward his room. He didn't have to say he didn't think Goku should be alone.

When Gojyo went into the room he shared with Goku, the boy was lying face down on his bed, crying softly. The blanket had fallen to the floor. Gojyo stopped and picked it up. He tucked it around Goku and patted the boy's head before slipping into his own bed.


	5. Investigation gone wrong

Chapter Five

"What do we do if we find this guy…and he's human?" Goku asked hesitantly as he finished the last of the congee which had been brought up to the room. "I've never really wanted to hurt a human on purpose…but I want this dick to pay as painfully as he gave to all those girls." Goku hesitated, eyeing his friends almost ashamed. "Is that wrong?"

"Vengeance instead of justice?" Sanzo poured himself more coffee as a concession that he knew Hakkai was too upset about the dead girls to be bothered waiting on him. "Sometimes one is better than the other."

Goku looked at Sanzo in surprise then turned his gaze to Gojyo and Hakkai. Gojyo merely shrugged.

"There's a saying, Goku, 'he who seeks vengeance must dig two graves: one for his enemy and one for himself'," Hakkai replied thoughtfully, passing some fried devil dough to Jeep.

Goku sighed, his shoulders slumping under his cape. "But I'm not sure it's always wrong."

"I killed a thousand youkai to avenge my sister," Hakkai replied softly, scratching Jeep's head as the dragon nudged him. "I'd be the last person to say it's wrong. I'm just saying we need to be very careful and very sure before we do anything."

Goku mulled that over then asked. "Where are we goin' to look today?"

"It would help if Tai-Shan and Shao talked to us," Gojyo said, reaching for his coffee. "So we wouldn't be wasting time."

"I don't think they entirely trust us," Hakkai said ruefully as Jeep fluttered back to the bed. "On a more positive note, Hakuryuu seems to be feeling better."

"Good," Sanzo murmured, missing Goku's panicked look as the boy worried Sanzo would make them move on before they knew who killed Lan.

"Maybe if we talked to people who knew the girls that would help," Goku suggested, trying to keep the desperation out of his voice.

"It'll be a little ghoulish for the family," Gojyo said with a scowl.

Goku shook his head. "No, we can talk to that teacher dude. Lan said he taught all the girls."

"Rakesh?" Hakkai nodded appreciatively at the boy's thought processes. "That's actually not a bad idea, Goku. He should be at the school and he would be uninvolved enough to be able to talk to us without stirring up too much pain. Who knows if they all have something in common, we might be able to figure out who snatched those girls. Rakesh would have to be very non-threatening or someone the girls knew."

"Lan was terrified of this ass-face," Goku said, pounding his fist down on the table, making the dinnerware jump. "She wouldn't have gone off with just anyone."

"Some guys can talk you into doing stupid things. Trust me on this, I've talked plenty of girls into doing things they probably normally wouldn't," Gojyo said with a rueful expression as if he almost regretted some of the things he had done over the years.

"Like being seen with you," Sanzo offered and Gojyo curled his lip at him. The priest glanced at Goku. "Starting with the teacher sounds like a good idea."

After polishing off the remains of breakfast, they headed out the front door. Hearing someone calling him, Sanzo turned around to see Huan. "Can I speak to you about the funeral?"

Sanzo sighed and looked like he was going to refuse. However, at Goku's pleading expression, Sanzo nodded. "Go on without me," he said to his friends.

When they got to the school, they had to wait for a break between the classes. Rakesh, while surprised to see them, ushered them into his office. The room seemed almost too austere, Hakkai thought. The books, was few there were, had been lined up neatly. No decorations, no personal items were to be seen other than a pretty blue ashtray and a map on the wall behind Rakesh's little desk. "What can I do for you gentlemen?"

"We understand that you knew all the girls who were killed," Hakkai said and was shocked when the man's dark eyes hardened. It wasn't the reaction Hakkai was expecting.

"What of them?" Rakesh rasped out, reaching for his cigarettes. He didn't indicate for any of them to sit in the single chair in front of his desk but Hakkai did so anyway.

"We just wanted to know if they had stuff in common," Gojyo said, holding out his lighter. "Didn't mean to imply anything."

Rakesh took a deep drag, lighting his cigarette. "Of course not. That would be nonsensical, after all. There's nothing to imply. I'm just a humble teacher, you know how that is."

"I used to," Hakkai said, a bittersweet tone to his voice. He glanced out the window at the kids playing in the snow at recess. "I taught the little ones. I know how close kids can be and how close they can get to their teachers. I miss that actually."

"And we thought you'd know stuff, like maybe somethin' they all liked to do, somethin' that might have made this jerk-off pick them," Goku said hotly an Hakkai shot him a look, hoping to quiet him because he could see Rakesh didn't appreciate their questions.

Rakesh eyed Goku very intently. "Why are you asking? This isn't your job. You're strangers in town."

"Sanzo has been asked to investigate crimes before," Hakkai said, placatingly. "And we saw no harm in trying to help."

"Besides, Lan was my friend and I ain't stoppin' until I find who killed her," Goku added, his golden eyes flat and dull.

"I'm afraid there's nothing I can tell you," Rakesh said, smoke curling out his nostrils.

"Can't or won't?" Gojyo asked and Hakkai winced, wondering not for the first time if he should have come alone. Goku and Gojyo were short on finesse.

"I have to get back to class." Rakesh stubbed out his cigarette. "I wish I could help you. Well, I do know one person you could talk to. His name is Balram and he had spent a lot of time with all those girls. If anyone would have easily been able to get close to the girls, it would have been someone their own age."

"I know Balram. He helped us build that snowman, remember, Gojyo?" Goku glanced at his friend who nodded.

"Yeah, guess we can talk to him next," the kappa remarked.

"Thank you for your time, Rakesh. I'm sorry if we seemed a little forward," Hakkai said, getting up.

Rakesh shrugged. "You're just trying to help."

The trio headed back out into the snow. "Do you think it could be a teenager doing this?" Gojyo asked doubtfully, tapping a cigarette out of the pack.

"I wouldn't think he'd have the confidence," Hakkai replied after a moment's consideration.

"Rakesh is lookin' at us," Goku said, raising a hand to Rakesh who stood stern-faced in the window. "Think he was hidin' somethin'?"

"Might not like us insinuating he knew something more than he does." Gojyo shrugged. "In this town, would you want them to think you're involved in these killings?"

Remembering the mob with death on their minds who had come for him, Goku shuddered. "No. So we talk to Balram next?"

Hakkai nodded. "That would be the logical thing to do."

X X X

Goku wandered into the restaurant alone. The talk with Balram had gone less than spectacularly. The boy talked more than Rakesh but between him being defensive and distraught over losing so many friends, he didn't have many ideas about who could have done it, at least none that made any sense.

Gojyo and Hakkai had moved on to do more investigating. Goku stayed behind with Balram and the other teens, thinking maybe the kids would tell him things they wouldn't tell the adults. Goku wasn't sure what he learned; probably nothing. The girls were good in school, liked by their teachers and several of the boys had really liked the girls, trying to convince them to go out with them. Some of the boys were even a little jealous of Lan's interest in Goku and weren't afraid to tell him that, Maidar particularly.

He slumped down at the table, not really hungry but he saw no benefit in starving. Goku ordered a moderate lunch and ate listlessly. He mulled over his next step. He knew he could go looking for his friends to find out what they had learned. Hakkai would naturally be better at this than him, right? Still, Goku couldn't escape thinking there was something he had forgotten to ask and that he should go back and talk to Lan's friends again. The idea knocking around his skull now just hadn't occurred to him earlier, not until he watched the two waitresses. Who would a girl trust? He didn't know, not being a girl. He couldn't think like one and Gojyo said they thought differently than guys. Gojyo was probably right about that. He knew women. It might not have occurred to Hakkai to think like a girl, either.

Sucking absently on the skewer of his _kushiyaki_, Goku figured Gojyo would say that girls could be talked into trusting someone. He'd already said something like that. It could be the killer was a smooth talker like Gojyo as opposed to someone more sour like Sanzo. Then again Sanzo's priestly garb might put them at ease. Goku wondered if they just weren't afraid of the killer because of his profession. People trusted monks, for instance.

He dropped the kushi and rubbed his head. The deep thinking was making it swim. Goku decided definitely to go back to talk to Lan's girlfriends. They could answer those questions. He'd just finish up his _imoni_ and head off to find them.

"You're alone."

Goku looked up from the soup bowl, surprised to see Rakesh standing there. He wondered if the teacher ate every meal at the restaurant. "Yeah, just finishin' lunch."

"Are your friends still poking about, asking questions?" Rakesh sat down uninvited. "You don't mind, do you? I hate to eat alone."

"I was almost done," Goku hedged, thinking he wanted to get back to his questioning.

"I'll buy more if you'd like. Maybe I could tell you more about the girls. I'm sorry about earlier. I didn't expect you and your friends to turn up at the school," Rakesh offered. "People talk, especially at a school. I'd rather no be gossiped about, especially about something like that."

Goku thought about it and decided maybe he could learn more if he stayed and talked to Rakesh. It was worth it. "Thanks." Goku ordered another round of everything while Rakesh got something a little less substantial. "I was thinkin' that the girls must have trusted this guy and was trying to think who in town they might have trusted."

"What did you come up with?" Rakesh asked, as the waitress hustled over with the meal.

"Well, their friends for one, you know kids their age. I guess it could be some boy they went to school with, like you suggested. That was a good one. I mean people thought it was me." Goku shrugged, digging into a steamed bun. "Then I thought maybe someone from the local temple or the law keepers or maybe someone like you. They'd trust their teachers, right?"

"I suppose you have a point but I don't really see any of those people doing something like this," Rakesh said, gesturing at Goku. The boy didn't see something liquid tipping out of a tiny bottle in the man's hand and into Goku's drink. "Have you and your friends totally discounted youkai?"

"Nah. It could be them but we just haven't seen any," Goku said, frustrated. He wanted someone to hit for this. "I know the townspeople pretty much think the killer is some youkai who keeps sneakin' in from the woods. Is that what you think?"

Rakesh sipped at his sake cup. "I'd have to say that I do."

"But there aren't any in town, right?" Goku said, '_barring us_.' "The night Lan died…the killer had to know where the search parties were and know how to hide in the town. How would some outsider youkai know that?"

Rakesh brushed his dark hair back and smirked, "Because, dear boy, they used to live here before they all went mad."

"Oh, well that makes sense." Goku's brow knit. "Only, it would make more sense at night, where they could sneak in and no one would see them. Youkai stand out you know, with the ears and claws." Goku winced, thinking on the last time he had his claws out. He might not remember it but he saw the aftermath. Rakesh shot him a curious look at that wince. He wondered if Rakesh thought he was afraid of the youkai, oh well. Like it mattered. "Lan was taken in the afternoon. What about the others?"

Rakesh frowned slightly. "I don't know. But that would also put a hole in your theory about it being some adult they trusted. Most of them would be working, except I suppose for lunch breaks. I think that makes it even more likely it was someone their age." He smiled wryly, waving a hand over the table. "Mind if I smoke?"

"You actually ask permission?" Goku's eyes widened. "Sanzo and Gojyo just blow smoke in my face."

"A sanzo priest smokes?" Rakesh's eyebrows arched. "I thought tobacco was forbidden. Well, I suppose he also did have a gun and I know those aren't exactly allowed by the order either." He shrugged and lit up. "Was Balram helpful at all?"

"Yeah, sort of. I'm not sure he had anythin' to do with it." Goku looked out the window and saw it was snowing again. "Damn it, does it ever stop snowin' here? I was goin' to go back and talk to Lan's friends some more."

While Goku's attention was on the window, Rakesh tapped the remains of the tiny bottle into Goku's soup. "It's a rough winter."

Goku shrugged and went back to eating. He paused with the spoon to his nose. "Smells funny."

"They use local spices," Rakesh said with a shrug as he lit up. "It might take a finer palate to appreciate it."

Goku wrinkled his nose. Had he just been insulted? He sucked down some of his soup. "I just wanna find Lan's killer, snow or no damn snow."

Smoke curled past Rakesh's lips. "And then what?"

Goku rubbed his eyes. His head was swimming. What was wrong with him? Did he have Jeep's cold? "I'm gonna pound that ass-face until there ain't nothin' left of him."

A little smirk flicked across Rakesh's face. "A little fellow like you? Are you sure you're up to it?"

"I'm plenty strong," Goku said hotly. His stomach flipped, a sensation he wasn't all that used to and, for a moment, it felt like he was falling out of his chair. Goku's hand flailed for the table's edge to steady him. He rested back against the chair. "I think I'm comin' down with somethin'."

"Maybe you should finish your drink," Rakesh suggested, pushing the spiked glass closer to Goku. "Fluids are important if you're sick."

Goku complied. "The guy deserves what he gets, you know?"

"I'd say most of the town would agree with you. Hmm, lunch time is almost over and I need to be getting back to the school." Rakesh stood up. "Are you going out to meet Lan's friends now?"

"Yeah." Goku got up and stumbled. The room whipped around him, lightning fast. Every part of him felt too heavy, too leaden. "Something ain't right."

"Well, that's what you get for drinking my sake," Rakesh said too loudly.

"But I didn't…" Goku wanted to lie down right on the floor and sleep. He felt Rakesh's arm slipping under his shoulder.

"Don't worry, I'll help you back to your room."

Goku wasn't sure why Rakesh was helping him or where they were going. He stumbled along after the teacher, too weak to protest. Goku was unconscious by the time Rakesh heaved him into his donkey cart and covered him over.


	6. Dark Times

Chapter Six

"Where do you think small balls has gotten off to?" Gojyo lit up, shielding his cigarette from the wind.

"I'll assume you mean Goku and not Sanzo," Hakkai said, wincing as snow got into his boots.

"Well, it applies to either, I guess, but I'm referring to the monkey. He can't still be talking to those kids, can he? How many questions could he come up with?" Gojyo made a face at the idea of the monkey thinking.

"I have to confess I was expecting him to come looking for us by now," Hakkai replied, looking around as if expecting Goku to pop out of the ether.

"Maybe they're all just talking about stuff, remembering Lan. Goku's taking this pretty hard," Gojyo said, taking a drag. He let the smoke curl out of his mouth slowly, thinking about his own losses and how he adapted to them.

"I know. We ought to go see where Sanzo went off to. Surely he has to be done with the funeral plans by now," Hakkai said, rubbing his arms to warm up. "He might be looking into things on his own. It would waste time if we're going over the same ground."

Gojyo snorted. "More like he's sitting on his ass in the hotel staying warm and dry." He stamped his feet. "I can't feel my toes."

"We could head back and check." Hakkai turned toward the hotel. "I should see if Jeep needs more food."

Gojyo looked askance at his friend. "How are you doing, Hakkai?"

Hakkai didn't meet Gojyo's gaze. "I'm fine. Why wouldn't I be?"

Gojyo made a sound of disgust. "You've lived with me how long, Hakkai? Don't insult me by pretending I can't read your moods." Hakkai's neck bowed. "I know you're upset. I was just thinking all this stuff has to remind you of bad times." Gojyo threw Hakkai a concerned look.

Hakkai's hand strayed to the long scar over his belly. "It does, but I'm fine."

Gojyo put an arm around Hakkai's shoulders. "You're not and that's okay, too, you know. If you need to talk, you know I'll listen."

Hakkai nodded. "Thanks, Gojyo." He summoned up a reassuring smile.

As they walked on, they spotted Sanzo coming away from the temple and went to meet him. The priest nodded his head at them, digging for his cigarettes. "Did you lose the monkey?"

"He stayed behind to talk to Lan's friends," Hakkai said, his brow knitting. "But that was hours ago."

"The monks had no ideas at all, about anything." Sanzo jerked a thumb back at the temple. "Typical, they don't get out into the town much. Might be why someone brought it to their door."

"We didn't have much luck either," Gojyo said, frustration lacing through his voice. "Seriously, I need a break. We were out in the snow most of the day. Can't we get warm for a little while before coming back out here?"

Hakkai nodded. "Like I said, I should check to see how Jeep's doing."

"Hey you!" a voice growled behind them. "Red-head, remember me?"

A sneer on his face, Gojyo turned around and saw one of Lan's friends behind them. The heat rolling off the boy could have melted the snow. "You're Maidar, right?"

"Where'd you leave your stupid little friend?" The boy stalked over to him. "Balram said you were all asking questions, as if that runt wasn't the one responsible for Lan's death."

"You missed the mob. They were around yesterday." Gojyo snorted, ignoring Hakkai's warning look. "They already know Goku didn't do shit. Where have you been?"

Sanzo fanned him. "Manners, kappa." The priest turned to Maidar. "Goku didn't kill your friend. The law men are convinced of it. Ask Lan's brother."

Maidar's conviction wavered a bit then the rage came roaring back. "All I know is I wanted Lan to be with me and she went with your friend and now she's dead. That's not coincidence."

"I'm afraid it is," Hakkai said gently, realizing the boy was simply scared and upset and needed a target for his rage. "We weren't in town when the killings started. I'm sorry you lost your friend but Goku is innocent."

"But…he was with her last," Maidar said weakly, tears forming.

"We are sorry." Hakkai touched the boy's shoulder and Maidar broke down.

"Why did they all have to die?" the boy moaned.

"That's what we're trying to find out," Hakkai said comfortingly as he patted Maidar's shoulder.

"And if your friends didn't tell us the truth today, we can't do that," Gojyo put in, wondering if the kids did know more than they were willing to say.

Maidar shook his head. "I didn't stay around but…I don't know anything that could help. I can't even find your friend. I'm useless."

"I wouldn't say that. Goku is probably still with your friends. If you talk to him, I'm sure you'll find that he couldn't have possibly done it," Hakkai said, confident Goku could handle himself should Maidar have other ideas.

The boy nodded and shuffled off.

"So, back to the hotel?" Gojyo asked.

"Yes," Sanzo said, looking up at the sky. Sounding pissed at the world, he added, "I can't believe it. It's snowing more."

XXX

The insides of his mouth felt like the desert at high noon; dry, rough and hopeless. Goku fought to lever his eyelids up but they seemed heavier than the shackles he wore in the cage in the mountains. Some days he thought he could feel those chains again, like today. Slowly as reason penetrated the soporific veil over his senses, Goku realized he wasn't imagining those shackles. His arms had been yanked out in front of him, leaving his shoulders protesting. His wrists felt warm where they were lashed together with stout rope then tied off to a pole.

Face down on a cold, earthen floor, Goku gradually became aware that his clothing was gone. Trying to get up proved to him that while one leg was free, the other was staked by more rope to the ground. He took a deep breath, trying to clear his head but whatever he had been drugged with – which he was thinking that had to be the case because he could wake up fast when he needed to and he sure as hell needed to now – wouldn't let the cobwebs blow free from his head. Drugs, that was so unfair.

He tried to get his free leg under him. Simple rope couldn't stop him. Goku strained but he was barely even able to twitch his leg. Whatever drug he had been given had robbed him of a lot of strength. His stomach roiled and he gagged a bit. For once, he wasn't even hungry, his stomach danced and writhed that much. When Goku got hold of the ass-face who had done this to him, he was going to wallop him good. Taking another deep breath, Goku tried again, knowing that the drug would wear off eventually and he'd be free.

But only if he were alone and fingers latching to his free ankle proved that he wasn't. Goku squawked in surprise as a man –from the smell of him- chuckled lowly, yanking his ankle up until his knee was bent back as far as it would go. Goku gasped as the man pulled on a rope the boy hadn't even realized was around his neck. He felt a loop of rope going around his ankle.

"Hmm," the man hummed. "You're not as pretty as the girls but you do have nice gold eyes. I'd take them but the color never stays once they've been plucked." He reached down and untied Goku's leg from the stake. He bent this one back, too, and looped more rope around it, securing it to the stout ligature around the boy's neck.

Goku tried to look over his shoulder but couldn't turn much. He knew that voice, that scent, and the quick glimpse he caught of dark hair and cinnamon skin filled in some blanks. They had talked to the killer and asked his help without ever knowing it. It wasn't a youkai torturing and killing the girls, it was their one-time teacher, Rakesh. "Why?" The word pulled off his tongue, distorted and dry.

"Because," he said, his voice so calm that it reminded Goku of Hakkai at his scariest, "the picture this paints is too lovely to resist." Rakesh's hands withdrew from Goku's ankles, letting them drop a bit. The rope instantly bit into the boy's neck. "The sweat as it breaks out over the skin, the flush of the face as the ropes tighten, the terror in the eyes. Do you know how lovely it is?"

"Know you're a freak," Goku rasped, trying to pull his arms free. Rope couldn't hold him for long, even with this drug in his system. His wiggling only served to tighten the rope around his neck. Goku realize what sort of trap Rakesh had set. If he tried to free himself, he'd tighten the noose around his own neck.

"Careful now, if your legs drop, you'll strangle." Rakesh moved around so Goku could see him. More importantly, the boy surmised, so Rakesh could look into his eyes and watch him die. "Of course, you won't be able to hold your legs bent for very long. Oh you'll fight and struggle and that's what makes it delicious." Rakesh pulled a chair around, sitting in alongside the pole Goku's arms were tied off to. "So feel free to do that as much as you'd like."

Goku knew Rakesh had no idea who he was dealing with. He could probably hold his legs up for a long time, long enough to wait out the drugs and get free but still a cold liquid sliver of fear curled up through his belly. Could he die like this? Alone? In an instant, Goku wished he hadn't thought of that. He hated being alone. No, he would not, could not die here alone like this. It was stupid. "They'll get you," he growled, reminding himself he had friends. Sanzo would come for him. Besides, Goku was hard to kill, this bastard didn't have it in him to kill him.

Rakesh snorted. "Your friends? They're not coming."

Goku didn't waste breath arguing. He had had rigor mortis once and he wasn't in a hurry to repeat the experience. Being in hell had been scary enough with just Hakkai. Going alone couldn't happen but holding his legs up was harder than he imagined. His thighs burned and screamed from the odd contortion but he managed. In his heart, Goku screamed for Sanzo.

"Give in. Let me see it. I love when the face goes all dark," Rakesh said languidly, rubbing a hand over his crotch.

Goku nearly lost it, his ankles dipping as a change in Rakesh's scent tickled his nose. It reminded him of the times Gojyo had gotten loose in the various brothels they found on their trail. The man's lust, heavy and sickening, made him gag. Rakesh enjoyed this. It was why Lan and those other girls had died. The man would sit there, stroking himself, and that would be the last thing Goku saw before he strangled unless he could do something.

Goku pulled harder on the ropes that lashed his hands. He could do nothing about the ones around his ankle, not without crushing his own neck, but if he tried harder he could free his hands and take the damn rope off his neck. He just had to forget about worrying about being alone, forget about the pain cramping and twisting his muscles, forget about the drug sapping his considerable strength until he was newborn-weak. He could do this.

A frown marred Rakesh's handsome face as he got up. "This is taking too long. Hmmm, maybe I should have known a boy who travels with a dragon might be a little different." He lumbered over to a table and did something Goku couldn't see. "Let's see if this helps speed things along."

His strong fingers pried at Goku's jaw and the boy tried to bite him. Rakesh's hand clapped over one of Goku's ears, sending a wave of pain through his head. Tears of anguish beaded up in the corner of his eyes but Goku clamped his jaw shut tight against the howl of agony threatening to tear out of him. Something inside his head felt torn.

"The more stubborn you are, the more I enjoy this." Rakesh's voice sounded different and Goku wondered if the man had ruptured his ear drums. Rakesh simply stood on Goku's arms and pinched the boy's nose shut. Goku bucked and strained, his legs descending and the rope tightening so much he could feel his eyes bugging and his throat swelling. Finally he had no choice but to open his mouth and rasp in air. Rakesh jammed a bottle into Goku's mouth and a thick, bittersweet syrup rippled down his throat. Rakesh backed off. "Syrup of poppy. The way you eat, it was so easy to give it to you the first time."

Goku felt the narcotic slowly wearing him down. If not for the nausea the drug sparked in his belly, it would have felt like being tucked in too tight, warm and safe. His legs felt like ingots had been stacked on them, dragging them to ground. The rope around his neck grew teeth and just when he thought his lungs might burst, the pressure was taken off. Rakesh had Goku's ankles.

"You're too fun to end here," was all Goku heard before the opium put him under.

X X X

"Damn it, where's that stupid monkey?" Sanzo groaned, wriggling his toes to get some feeling back in them. They had taken a break earlier in the afternoon then gone back out looking for clues only to return as darkness fell.

"You'd think he'd be here whining he's hungry," Gojyo said, slung over Hakkai's bed like a sack of laundry.

"Time and Goku are not always things that go together but it's getting dark," Hakkai said as Jeep perched on his shoulder. He gave the dragon a scratch. "He should have come looking for us by now."

"He's probably in the restaurant pigging out," Gojyo offered, trying to console himself with a likely scenario. He didn't want to seem like a worried mother hen.

"One problem with that, the chimp has no money," Sanzo said, rubbing his feet.

"He has a tab. I know because Lan started him one," Gojyo shot back.

Sanzo's fingers stop mid-rub and he raised his head to glare sharply at Gojyo. "You wait until now to tell me this?"

"I was waiting for the fireworks later," the kappa replied with a smug grin.

Hakkai just sighed. "I hope that the Three Aspect's card can handle the implications of Goku with a tab."

Sanzo grimaced and shoved his feet into his boots. "I'll plant that monkey." He stomped out the door.

Gojyo unfolded from the bed with a grin that suggested he couldn't wait for the monk-monkey show. "Guess it's dinner time."

They followed Sanzo to the restaurant. Business was slow, probably in deference for the family tragedy. Tai-Shan and Shao were listlessly eating in a corner but Goku was nowhere to be seen. Sanzo sat down anyhow. "I'm shocked the runt isn't here," Sanzo said, pulling the ash tray closer to him.

"I suppose he could still be with Lan's friends," Hakkai said, sounding a little unsure.

"Or off on his own. The times you were hurt, the monkey couldn't eat. He might just be taking this really hard," Gojyo said. "He's not used to losing." He glanced at the window. "Do you think we should look for him?"

Sanzo shook his head. "The monkey knows where we are. He'll find us easier if we're not out there roaming around."

"I'm sure Sanzo's right," Hakkai said and they settled in and ordered their meal.

They had barely gotten their food and started tucking in when Balram, Maidar and a young girl came up to their table. Hakkai noticed this didn't escape the notice of Tai-Shan and Shao. He had to confess he was very surprised that any girl would come out after dark with all that had happened. "Balram, Maidar, is there something we could do for you?" Hakkai asked.

The teens nodded then Balram waved to Tai-Shan. "You should hear this, too," he said and the girl gave him a nervous look. The two law men came over to the table and she shrank against Balram.

"Intan, right?" Gojyo asked, wondering where this girl had been earlier when they talked to Lan's friends. "You were with Balram when we were making snow men the other day."

She nodded, her long raven hair moving like a silk curtain. "I don't know if I should say anything. I didn't want to get anyone in trouble if they didn't do anything. I heard what almost happened to Goku," she said and Tai-Shan shifted uncomfortably.

"If they didn't do anything, you won't get them in trouble," Shao assured the girl.

Intan wet her lips. "All the girls were really good in school, teachers' pets especially to Mr. Rakesh and to Mr. Anada. So was I. It could be nothing." Her fear that it could be something shone in her dark eyes.

"And it could be something," Maidar said, taking her hand. "Tell them."

Intan shrugged. "Both of the teachers always spent time with us girls in class and now that we're done, they still do a little if they see us. It just made me nervous, but not enough to say anything. It could just be me being paranoid."

"We'll have a talk with them both, just to rule them out," Tai-Shan said, looking pleased to at least have some suspects.

Gojyo looked over at Maidar and Balram, "Where's Goku? Is he still with the rest of your friends?"

Balram's eyes widened. "No, he left hours ago. He went to get something to eat and said he was going to go find you three."

The trio felt a strong anxiety rising, as if they were all sharing in the same fear. "Are you sure?" Sanzo asked, his voice gravely.

Balram nodded. "Yeah."

"Your friend is missing?" Tai-Shan asked. "Are you sure he didn't just run off?"

"He didn't kill those girls," Gojyo snarled, his fist thumping down on the table.

"You're looking for your little friend?" Pei-yi, the waitress asked, delivering some drinks to the next table. "He was in here just after lunch. He got really drunk and Mr. Rakesh helped him to his room."

Bowls splashed, and cups over turned as the trio slammed back from the table and onto their feet. Sanzo sped out of the restaurant with Hakkai and Gojyo nearly trampling him. The teens followed along with Tai-Shan and Shao.

"Your friend was never back in that room, was he?" Shao asked grimly.

"If we thought he was, would we be running around like this?" Gojyo asked, sliding to a halt. "Where the fuck are we going? We don't know where this guy lives."

"We do!" Maidar offered.

"You are having nothing to do with this," Tai-Shan rounded on the boys. "You take Intan home and you get to your houses. This is my job. In fact, I want you to say nothing until we know for sure what's going on."

"I don't want to see another mob," Shao added.

The kids started to protest but a look from the law men silenced them and they shuffled off in the snow.

"Where does Rakesh live?" Hakkai asked.

"All the way on the other side of town. It'll take us a while to get there," Tai-Shan said.

Sanzo and Hakkai exchanged looks before cutting into the courtyard while Gojyo raced back inside.

"What are you doing?" Tai-Shan asked.

"You'll see," Hakkai said as Gojyo flung open the window from inside the hotel room. "Hakuryuu," he called. The dragon fluttered past Gojyo and landed on the sill. "Goku's in trouble. I know you're sick but we need help."

Jeep launched himself out the window, transforming. Gojyo propelled himself out the window as well. Sanzo climbed into his usual shotgun position and looked back at the stunned two law men. "Get in and give us directions."


	7. Riding in on the whitedragon

Chapter Seven

Goku shuddered awake, agonies singing over his nerves like a bow over violin strings. Somehow he was on his feet. His shoulders burned and he couldn't move his hands, tied firmly in the small of his back with something cold and sharp intertwined with rope. Something scratched at his neck and ankles. The drug left him even more nauseous, weak and sleepy than before and his abused neck seemed to throb in time to the drumbeat of his heart.

He didn't have to open his eyes to know he wasn't alone. Even if Rakesh wasn't smoking, Goku knew the man was too fascinated with his pain to leave him be. He could hear the man breathing, could feel the eyes on him.

"I know you're awake now," Rakesh said, sounding irritated that Goku tried to hide that fact from him.

Goku opened his eyes and looked first at the man then at things more important to him. He tried to determine how he was bound and if he could break free. His feet were lashed to spikes hammered into the earthen floor, only Rakesh had foregone rope, using barbed wire. A thick leather belt held him to a pole. "Let me go," he managed to say or at least he thought he did. Thirst left his throat dry and his lips cracked and flaking under his tongue, which rasped them like a scouring pad. He still called with his heart, only Sanzo didn't seem to hear him.

"Oh, why would I do that? You are delightful. By this point, most of my toys would be dead but you're special." Rakesh took the belt off Goku and the boy sagged forward, his legs like stale ramen noodles. "Of course by now, I'd have fucked them but I'm not sure you interest me. Still, your pain is so arousing." Rakesh's ashtray breath curled around Goku's ear as the man caressed the boy's cheek. "I suppose you do have two serviceable orifices. Which should I try first?" His finger moved over Goku's lips and the boy lunged at him, trying to bite only to be brought up short by a fiery pain in his neck. He felt blood trickle down the tendons of his neck and realized his ankles weren't the only thing trussed up with barbed wire. This was really bad.

Rakesh glared at him. "Well, if you're going to bite, we could always try this end." His hand moved over the curve of Goku's backside and the boy jerked away the best he could. Rakesh laughed, a sound of pure delight at Goku's fear. "Don't worry about screaming. Do so if it helps. No one can hear you. You're quite alone."

There was that hateful word again. "Not alone. They'll come for me," Goku insisted, flexing his hands against his bonds. He hissed in pain as more barbs dug into his flesh. _Sanzo, I'm callin'! _

"Oh, but you are. Let me demonstrate." Rakesh took the cigarette from his mouth and pressed the orange glowing tip of it to Goku's left nipple. The boy couldn't hold in the sharp bleat of pain. His body wrenched, barbed wire biting him all over. Rakesh put the cigarette back between his lips, flaring up some more ash at the end. "See, no one is going to come running to your aid. It's just us. And I," the cigarette went to Goku's right nipple, "could do this all day."

Goku jerked and sobbed then tightened up as Rakesh moved behind him. He only had a vague idea what the man meant to do and was surprised when Rakesh squatted down and pulled the block Goku was standing on out from under him. Goku hissed as the pain flared in his neck. He hadn't realized the block was angled and without it, he was on the balls of his feet. If he put his heels down, the barb wire-ridden rope constricted around his throat.

"Now's the time to practice balance," Rakesh instructed. "I'd hate for you to strangle too soon. I've never had this much fun. I wonder how long you'll last."

"Gonna kill you, ass-face," Goku snarled, trying not to think about his empty belly. At least the poppy syrup had his stomach upset enough that he wasn't too hungry. It was the being-alone-demon he needed to banish from his mind. Thoughts of being alone in his cage, the fear, the pain of solitude, those emotions wanted to batter his heart just now and Goku knew if he let them in, he was done for. Yes, he was alone now but that was just here in this room. Out there in the town, he knew his friends searched for him, somewhere Sanzo hear him and when they found him, they'd turn this bastard into a greasy paste on the floor.

"Oh, I don't think so." The tip of the cigarette traveled down Goku's midline eliciting grunts and groans. Rakesh went and tapped it out in an ashtray on a nearby table. He lit up a fresh one and came back over to Goku. The boy yanked hard, trying to get his arms free but all he managed was to embed the wire deeper into his flesh, making it harder to break free. Goku felt the blood dripping down the small of his back where his hands were nestled. "That was fun. Let's see if I can make you do it again." Rakesh said, brushing up against Goku's hip.

Goku could feel the hardness of the man pressing against him. "Drop dead, ass-face," he snarled.

"Awww, now you just made me angry." Rakesh's hand dipped low, touching the cigarette between Goku's legs.

Goku screamed, loosing his balance. The barbed wire chewed at his neck and the rope over it tightened mercilessly. He flexed and twisted violently, trying to get back on the balls of his feet. Rakesh hit him again with the cigarette and this time, as his muscles jerked and strained, Goku felt something click painfully in his wrist as wire met bone. He was vaguely aware of vomiting on himself and Rakesh making a disgusted noise. Goku couldn't breathe, his tongue feeling far too big to fit into his mouth. As the block was slipped back under his feet, Goku felt his hold on consciousness slip.

He didn't think he had gone out for long but Goku almost wished he had, relishing an escape from the pain. His entire chest and parts south felt like he'd been barbequed. A scent not terribly different from roast pig filled the room. Dragging his eyes up, Goku saw that Rakesh had retired to a chair by the table.

"I tried to wake you up." He gestured to the burns on Goku's torso. "But you didn't want to open your eyes." The teacher wrinkled his nose. "You're bleeding pretty badly now. I suppose I won't get to play with you much longer but before you die, I want to try something that I've been thinking about for a long time now."

Getting up, Rakesh picked up a long cane. Goku recognized it from the man's office. He probably used it to point on the chalkboard. "All those luscious little girls looking at me and all I could think of was using this on their smooth little bottoms. Let's give is a try, shall we?"

"Go to hell, dickwad," Goku said, fury mixing with fear in his tone. Goku's own weapon could be considered a long cane. He knew how much it hurt, how easily the nyoi-bo could break bone. He didn't want caned.

"What a mouth you have on you. Discipline would do you good." Grinning, Rakesh laid the cane across Goku's backside. It took the boy's breath away. The next few blows came so fast he couldn't prepare for them. He felt bone breaking; ribs, leg, something between his shoulders. The pain screamed along abused nerves.

"Why…why are you doing this?" Goku managed to get out. He was going to die here. For the first time, he actually believed it. He wasn't easy to kill but he thought maybe this man could do it. He'd die alone and the thought brought more tears to his eyes than anything Rakesh could do to him. _Sanzo, why don't you hear me?_

"Because it's fun." Rakesh laughed, running his fingers through Goku's lank, sweat-soaked hair. "Because you and your nosy friend came around asking questions. Bad enough you showed up at the hotel's restaurant but then you followed me to school. Killing you ought to teach the near-sighted bastard to mind his own business."

"But…we had no idea it was you who killed Lan," Goku protested, realizing they had frightened Rakesh into action.

The man looked surprised. "Oh. Well, no matter. I couldn't have wanted a better toy. Too bad you're a boy."

"Hakkai'll kill you," Goku said, venom in his voice. "If Sanzo doesn't beat him to it. You don't want to know what Gojyo will do with what's left of you." Goku wanted them all here right now. He never liked killing if he could avoid it but he'd make an exception.

XXX

"This doesn't feel right," Sanzo muttered as Hakkai stopped Jeep in front of a house.

"This is Rakesh's home," Shao said getting out of the vehicle.

"If he's inside, he's probably in the basement." Tai-Shan took out his gun and double checked the barrel as if he could have somehow forgotten to load his weapon.

"Something's not right," Sanzo insisted.

"What?" Gojyo asked, his knuckles white around the shaft of his weapon.

"I hear Goku calling but it sounds so far away," Sanzo replied as Hakkai headed up the steps in front of the law men.

"What do you mean?" Tai-Shan asked.

"Sanzo can 'hear' Goku if you will," Hakkai said, readying his chi.

"Call it holy shit we don't understand," Gojyo offered with a grim perversion of a smile.

"So you're saying he might not be here?" Tai-Shan asked, not liking the idea his sister's killer might get away from justice. "If he sounds far away…"

"We'll find out soon enough," Hakkai said and sent his chi hurtling at the front door.

XXX

Goku leaned forward wearily, heedless of the poke of the barbed wire into his abused, swollen flesh. He couldn't balance on his toes for much longer. Rakesh had given him another little dose of poppy syrup, not enough to knock him out but enough to make him too groggy to think. Goku could barely keep his eyes open.

Cigarette dangerously close to those traitorous eyes, Rakesh stroked the boy's cheek. "Shall I take you while you're still alive or after you're dead?"

Goku didn't answer. He was too busy putting everything he had left in a silent scream. Sanzo had always heard him calling before. Goku needed him to hear his heart now.

Rakesh caught Goku's chin. "Dead, you won't try to bite me but then I'd miss all the wiggling and screaming and that is ever so delicious. Come now, you need to make a decision."

"Fuck yourself," Goku slurred so dry-mouthed he could barely speak.

"Such a potty mouth. I think a little punishment is in order." Rakesh clamped his cigarette between his lips and went over to the anchor for the noose. Untying it, he hoisted Goku clean off his feet.

Gurgling, Goku's legs danced and twitched as much as they could, still bound at several points. The barbs gnawed his neck viciously and his eyes and tongue seemed to swell. The boy felt something warm and acrid smelling run down his leg. Then just as suddenly as he'd been strung up, slack was given as a reprieve. Goku went to his knees in a puddle of his own urine.

Rakesh squatted next to him, carefully avoiding the mess. He stroked Goku's sweat-soaked hair. "How much fight do you think you have left?" Rakesh eyed Goku's freely bleeding wounds and the pools of blood around the boy. "You have to be getting low on blood by now."

"Dead," Goku whispered, unwanted, uncontrollable tears spilled over his cheeks. "Not 'til I'm dead."

"See, it wasn't such a hard choice. But I think I'd enjoy it more the other way. That's why I let you down," Rakesh said, tapping his cigarette out on the floor. He pulled Goku's head close to him, sniffing the boy's hair.

Goku jerked his head up hard into the man's nose and chin. Rakesh fell into the gore, cursing. Goku strained against the bounds, howling in pain but determined to rip this monster's throat out. He fell pitifully short.

Rakesh pulled himself up, flinging the bodily fluids off his hands then wiped his own bleeding nose. "You're going to regret that!"

"Sanzo," Goku murmured before the cane found him again; the blows coming in a flurry. The attack left him senseless, Sanzo's name falling from his lips again and again like rain in spring. Rakesh freed Goku's feet, kicking the boy's knees apart. Goku instinctively kicked him hard as he could but drugged and on all fours that didn't amount to much. Still Rakesh cried out sharply.

"Well, now I'll just have to use this in a way you really aren't going to like." Rakesh pumped the cane at Goku suggestively. "And you surely won't be dead but I think I need to take a little more fight out of you." He went back to the anchor for the noose.

"Sanzo," Goku groaned, fear and drugs twisting around like roots in his mind. Picturing Sanzo, the brightness he brought with him, the words poured out. "Want the sun."

Rakesh's answer was to hoist Goku off his feet again. He stepped in front of the dangling boy. "You're never going to see the sun again, boy."

Never see the sun? Goku felt something rush up through him even as his air was cut off. Power, raw and strong as stone, flooded into him. He had only felt fear like this a handful of time and ever time he had, the end was the same. With a chest thumping crack, the diadem fell to pieces at his feet.

Rakesh looked at them. "Damn, I was going to keep that as a souvenir. Guess pieces work, too." He looked at Goku, his eyes widened seeing the changes. "Well, this explains a lot."

Goku's answer was a breathless, wicked giggle.

XXX

"Fuck it." Sanzo kicked over Rakesh's living room table. "Where is he?"

"Not here," Gojyo growled back. "We've torn this place apart. You were right."

Tai-Shan glanced back at the shattered remains of the front door then over to Hakkai. "How the hell did you do that?"

Hakkai waved him off, in no mood to explain a chi blast. "Where else might Rakesh take Goku to? He would need privacy to do the things he did to those girls but his basement shows no signs of anything like that torture. I don't think you can clean that much blood up." Hakkai knew that for truth but he couldn't let Tai-Shan and Shao know that.

"He has a point," Shao said and he and Tai-Shan fell to discussing possibilities.

"How the hell did this fuckwad get hold of Goku in the first damn place?" Gojyo yanked a cigarette out of the pack, bending it in his fury.

"He is just a boy," Tai-Shan offered.

"You don't know the runt. There's more to him than meets the eye," Gojyo replied, his teeth flattening the filter of his cigarette.

"Drugs," Sanzo said, going for a cigarette of his own. "That waitress said Goku was drunk."

Hakkai nodded. "She'd have remembered the amount of alcohol it takes to get Goku drunk but drugs…easy enough to slip a soporific into something Goku or the girls were drinking or eating. It would make them easy to move."

"Makes sense," Tai-Shan said, nodding his head.

"But where?" Shao asked. "We have no good ideas where he'd get the privacy. It's too cold to be hauling them into the woods, too difficult with all the snow."

"Wait, how about the old school?" Tai-Shan said, his expression brightening "It burned last year and it had am old earthen basement. Rakesh would know it well."

"Where?" Sanzo snapped. "Goku's calls are getting weaker."

Gojyo and Hakkai scowled at that tidbit.

"I'll show you the way."

They all piled back into Jeep, the sickly dragon sneezing through his grill as they did so.

"This is so strange," Tai-Shan said. "I had no ideas things like this existed."

"It's a bit different, I suppose." Hakkai patted the steering wheel. "I'm sorry you have to do this, Hakruyuu."

They fell silent again except for Tai-Shan's short directions to the school. They all assumed the hush of predators as they entered the burnt out shell of the old school. Sanzo nodded approvingly as if he knew that this was the right place. Tai-Shan led the way, presumably having a better idea of where they might find the entrance to the basement.

Tai-Shan led them down some stairs that were suspiciously clean of debris. He stopped at a door with a grime-coated window. They all huddled around the glass, peering in to see if they were in the right spot.

"Son of a bitch!" Gojyo hissed seeing Goku kicking as he dangled from a noose. "The fucker's killing the kid."

A loud cracking sound stopped them even as Sanzo and Tai-Shan cocked their pistols. Shao watched Goku's diadem fall to the ground. "How did that happen?" he asked.

"Damn, that's not good," Gojyo murmured, kicking down the door.

"Nothing good about it," Hakkai pulled the silvery cuffs off his ear as the men charged the room.

XXX

"So, you're a youkai. I didn't see that coming." Rakesh let Goku drop. "I've never sampled one of your kind. How fun."

His gold eyes gleamed and Goku's laughter stopped. He pulled against his bonds, ignoring the pain and arterial spray as he burst the barbed wire, rending his flesh.

"What the hell?" was all Rakesh managed to spit out before Goku's claws gutted him.

Shrieking, the man fell back, his arms crossing over his ruined abdomen. His body jerked as Sanzo and Tai-Shan's bullets found him. Rakesh stumbled and began to fall even as Gojyo's shakujo sliced him in two. Hakkai's chi blast reduced him into something that resembled a rotted melon dropped from a great height.

"Damn," Shao murmured then startled, taking in Hakkai's altered appearance.

Tai-Shan looked between Hakkai and Goku. "You're all youkai."

"Not again, damn it," Sanzo sighed. "Not me." He watched Goku plucking the noose off his neck. The boy's eyes narrowed, his body tensing for a fight, heedless of how badly he was hemorrhaging. "Here he comes. Gojyo, slow him down," Sanzo said, preparing for the maiten sutra recitation.

"Don't let him get Tai-Shan or Shao," Hakkai added, a rustle of vegetation echoing around him.

"I know. Damn monkey, you're all fucked up. Just hold still and let us fix you," Gojyo said, intercepting Goku's charge, the broken leg barely slowing him down. Goku twisted, sinking his fangs into Gojyo's upper arm. "Damn it! Why does he always bite me! Sanzo!"

The holy magic activated, Sanzo clamped a hand over Goku's forehead, yanking him back so his canines slid free of the meat of Gojyo's arm. The diadem reformed and Goku slumped into Sanzo's arms, unconscious. Sanzo's head swiveled over to Hakkai as he laid the boy down. "Hakkai, he's bleeding all over."

Hakkai knelt with Sanzo, dropping his cuffs next to his knees. He took Goku's wrists. "He still has the wire embedded." Hakkai's claws fished out bits of metal from the raw meat. He tweaked and tugged at Goku's chi. "So much damage," he muttered, trying to knit bone back once he got the worst of the bleeding under control. Trying to decide where to move next, Hakkai's vision suddenly narrowed and his head felt as if it had detached. The next thing he was aware of was Gojyo's arm supporting him.

"A couple huge chi blasts and fixing this mess…think you're past your limit, buddy," Gojyo said, resting Hakkai back against him.

"But I'm not done," Hakkai said, his tongue feeling thick.

"Get these on before something bad overtakes you." Sanzo handed Hakkai his cuffs. "You took care of the worst, right? The rest can wait until you rest. Kill yourself now and what good does that do?"

Hakkai smiled wearily, settling his limiters back onto his ear. "Thank you." His green eyes flicked back to Goku. "He'll live but if he wakes up…he's going to be in a lot of pain. I didn't get to the burns and bruises."

"We'll deal with it if that happens before you get your strength back," Sanzo assured him.

"Damn, just look where that bastard fried the kid." Gojyo glared over to what was left of the dead man. "I'm sorry we killed him so fucking fast. He deserved slow death."

Tai-Shan looked up from where he and Shao were surveying the damage, amazed by it all. "I won't argue."

"What happens now?" Gojyo asked, gesturing to the pieces of Rakesh. They rarely worried about the body count but their companions had never been law men before.

Tai-Shan shrugged. "He killed my sister. I don't care that he's dead."

"We'll take care of cleaning up this mess later," Shao added. "We should get your friends back to the hotel. They could use the rest and this is our problem." He nodded to the remains.

"Ain't getting an argument from me." Gojyo stood, hauling Hakkai up, supporting him so he could walk.

Sanzo wrapped his winter cloak around Goku's naked body and lifted the boy up so he could carry him out to Jeep. He just wished it was all over but seeing what had been done to his friend, Sanzo knew Goku's pain wasn't going to be so easily healed.


	8. recovery

Chapter Eight

The pile of cigarettes in the ash tray had grown precariously high when someone rapped lightly on the hotel room door. Gojyo opened it quickly before either Goku or Hakkai could wake up. Goku had been washed, bandaged and tucked into Sanzo's bed so the priest and Gojyo could keep a close eye on him. Tai-Shan and his father were at the door. The innkeeper had a cart loaded with food.

"I wasn't sure any of you would be hungry but I know you didn't get to eat dinner and my son said your friends would certainly need some nourishment to help revive them," Huan said, his gratitude for them finding his daughter's killer evident in his face.

"Thank you," Gojyo said, taking the cart.

"We've about got all the bits and pieces of Rakesh cleaned up," Tai-Shan wrinkled his nose. "I went back to his home and found journals that detailed everything he did. I saw parts of a journal at the old school about what he did to your friend. Guess he liked to write as he watched them struggle and die." Tai-Shan made a sound of disgust then put a hand on his father's shoulder when the man choked back a sob.

"Bring it here," Sanzo demanded. He didn't know why but he had to see it.

"You want to read it?" Tai-Shan asked, shocked. Gojyo looked equally surprised.

"I need to know everything he did," Sanzo said simply. This man nearly took someone important from him. He had to understand why.

Tai-Shan nodded. "I'll bring it by in the morning." He put a hand on his father's arm. "I have to get back out there with my men. Thank you all of you for your help."

"Believe me, we'd have done it with or without you. Call it our good deed for the year," Gojyo said as Hakkai sat up, wearily rubbing his face.

"The town would probably throw you a party," Tai-Shan said with a grim smile before he headed down the hall.

"Just what we need," Sanzo grumbled.

"I'm glad you were here to help my son and thank you for letting my daughter's spirit rest. I'm sorry that the boy was hurt so badly. You can stay here as long as you need to, until he's well enough to travel, free of charge. My way of thanking you," Huan said, turning to go. Gojyo thanked him then locked the door.

"Want me to bring you something over, Hakkai?" Gojyo asked, poking through the covered dishes consisting of a few warm bowls containing types of food that could sit well without spoiling. He put a bowl on the table and waved to Hakuryuu who flew over to it.

Hakkai shook his head and staggered out of bed. He slumped down at the table with his friends and Gojyo pushed the cart to the table. Hakkai picked out some soup as did Sanzo. Hakkai sampled it, sighing. "This is good. I should be able to get back a little strength then I'll try to finish healing Goku."

"Don't push too hard," Gojyo cautioned, helping himself to some food. "He's out of danger, right?"

Hakkai nodded. "But those burns…he'll hurt bad if he wakes up."

"He nearly died." Gojyo barely restrained himself from hitting the table. "Definitely killed that fucker too fast."

Sanzo grunted. "I would have liked to have shot him more."

A low moan caught their attention. Something akin to pain flickered in Sanzo's eyes as he dropped the spoon, soup forgotten. He went over to the bed, resting his hand on Goku's crown as the boy sifted closer to wakefulness. The groan that rumbled in Goku's throat deepened with pain and fear and his body jerked hard under the covers. "You're safe now, Goku," Sanzo said. Goku thrashed under him, tears sneaking out past the guard of his lashes. "He's gone now."

"Owww," Goku cried, his eyes shooting open. His breath rasped in then eased out, seeing Sanzo standing over him. He raised a shaking hand to touch Sanzo's arm. "You came for me."

"Did you think we wouldn't, you silly monkey?" Sanzo smiled faintly but the smile faded when Goku flinched, turning his face away. "Goku?"

Goku's only answer was a soft groan and he wouldn't look back at Sanzo. Hakkai stood up, steadying himself on the table before walking over to the bed. He sat on the edge wearily.

"I think I can fix the rest of the burns now, Goku." Hakkai touched the boy's arm gently and gold eyes fixed on him.

"You sure, Hakkai?" Gojyo fretted. "You're barely hanging on yourself."

Hakkai inclined his head. "I think it'll be fine. Just don't let me hit the floor." Hakkai's eyes squeezed shut as he concentrated on manipulating chi. He could feel Goku's tense muscles relaxing in slow measures as he sped along some of the boy's healing. The blackness crept up on him again then felt Sanzo's strong arm loop around him before he fell face forward into Goku. Hakkai tried to shake it off. "Thank you," he muttered to the priest.

"You want more to eat or just your bed?" Sanzo asked.

"Bed," Hakkai said as Gojyo slid next to him and helped him up.

"Goku, there's some food. Want some?" Gojyo asked, pasting a hopeful look on his face.

Goku shook his head.

"Yeah, didn't think so. You just go back to sleep," Gojyo said soothingly. "Hakkai will be right here. Sanzo and I will be in the other room."

"No," Goku barked, grabbing Hakkai's wrist as the man turned to go. "Stay. You all stay."

"We're not going far, Goku," Sanzo said and Goku grabbed his arm, too.

"Stay." Goku's eyes were wide enough to drown in. "Don't wanna be alone."

"No problem," Hakkai said, worming out of Gojyo's steadying grasp and past Goku's death grip. He caught hold of the night stand and tried to pull it out from between the two beds. Gojyo shrugged and helped him. "We'll stay right with you."

"Come on, priesty, Hakkai's too wiped to move the bed. It's not going to be any worse than camping out," Gojyo reasoned.

He and Sanzo shoved the two beds together. Gojyo went and made sure the food was wrapped up tight to wait until morning while Sanzo put his hand on Goku's forehead. "Do you need to get up and…" he gestured towards the bathroom.

Goku shivered and muttered a 'no.' Hakkai climbed into his bed that now rested against Sanzo's, claiming the middle position next to Gojyo. He figured it was just easier to keep as much space between Sanzo and Gojyo as possible. Hakkai smiled gently at Goku and thought the boy was about to cry, out of relief or fear or both the older man couldn't tell. Gojyo slipped in next to Hakkai as Hakuryuu settled on the pillow between Hakkai and Goku's head. The dragon head butted Goku tenderly before tucking himself into a ball.

Sanzo turned out the lights and got into his bed next to Goku. The boy's nose wrinkled as if he smelled something he didn't like then he twined his arms tightly around the priest. Goku pillowed his head on Sanzo's chest, his one leg hooking over Sanzo's as if he had to hold on for life. Sanzo looked across the beds. Hakkai seemed to be unconscious already and Gojyo faced the other wall. Sanzo put an arm around Goku's back and circled the fingers on his other hand soothingly against Goku's scalp.

"Sanzo," Goku said so softly, the priest barely heard him. "He was gonna…" Goku shuddered so hard the bed shook. Hakkai murmured in his sleep at the disturbance. "Wanted to hurt me." He squeezed Sanzo hard.

Goku put such a strange emphasis on the word that Sanzo hesitated, knowing that the boy had been hurt very badly. Thinking about where a lot of those cigarette burns had been, Sanzo caught Goku's meaning. His lips skinned back, wanting to bring Rakesh back just to kill him some more. "You're safe now," Sanzo said, those words sounding horribly inadequate to him but they seemed to soothe Goku. Sanzo felt something warm soaking into his shirt but Goku didn't cry for long, slipping off to sleep.

Sanzo didn't stop the soothing motions his fingers seem to be making automatically. He needed it just as much as Goku did. He had never wanted to be attached to anyone or anything after his master had died horribly. The words of the Aspects about how his eyes were too dead to even find his master's lost sutra echoed in Sanzo's head. Somehow, he didn't think that was true any longer. Like it or not, he had emotional ties. The way the three men, himself included, ringed protectively around their injured little brother proved that. "Damn it," Sanzo muttered. He tried to sleep but it was long in coming.

X X X

Sanzo slowly cracked his eyes open. Goku was still as close to him as skin. Smelling smoke, Sanzo figured Gojyo was already out of bed. Easing himself free of Goku, trying not to wake him, Sanzo slipped out of bed. When he came back from taking care of the necessities, Sanzo saw Hakkai and Gojyo up and eating quietly. Someone had gotten the paper for him. Goku hadn't stirred so Sanzo joined the others.

Hakkai poured him some coffee and Gojyo pushed the ashtray closer to him. Sanzo lit up and sucked in that first rush of nicotine before topping it off with caffeine. He felt instantly better. Smoke curling out his nostrils, he reached for something to eat. "Are you better now, Hakkai?"

Hakkai nodded. "Much." His green eyes cut over to Goku. "He might not be able to travel for a while, Sanzo. I fixed the worst of the damage but Goku lost a lot of blood. He very nearly died. And unlike the time you nearly bled to death, Kannon seems in no hurry to appear and transfer blood from one of us to Goku."

"Question is, will the monkey wanna stay around here after everything that happened?" Gojyo asked, leaning over the table to knock an ash into the tray.

"Will Hakruyuu be strong enough to carry us all if Goku can't stay here?" Sanzo asked and the dragon chirruped.

"I think so but it would be best if we could wait just a little," Hakkai replied, after a moment's thought.

Sanzo nodded, looking at his food, trying to find his appetite. "Hakkai, when you were healing him…you can sense the wounds, right?" At Hakkai's nod, Sanzo swallowed hard then said, "Goku said that bastard wanted to rape him. Did he?" The question snapped out like a lash.

Hakkai's eyes went hard as emeralds and Gojyo made a noise of utter disgust. "He hurt Goku badly enough but I don't think he got that far. I'm sure he would have done as much damage as he could have."

No relief shone in Sanzo's dead eyes as he lost himself in his thoughts. Gojyo was more demonstrative in his opinions of Rakesh until Hakkai hushed him before he woke up Goku. Gojyo settled, still fuming. "Just wish I knew what to do to help," he said plaintively. "I don't know what to do. If I act like nothing happened and everything's the usual fun and games will it cheer him up or make him think I don't care? But if I act all concerned will it be comforting or will it make him feel worse?"

Both Hakkai and Sanzo stared at the kappa for a moment, not used to such deep thinking coming from him. Hakkai's lips pulled into a pout. "It's something we'll have to learn as we go."

"Hope we learn fast," Sanzo grumbled just as Goku groaned, his arm flailing trying to find someone. Sanzo snubbed out his cigarette and went over to the bed. "We're right here, Goku."

Goku's eyes snapped open and he recoiled away from Sanzo, his hand cupping over his nose. "You left."

"No, we're right here." Sanzo said, gesturing at the table.

Gojyo crossed over to the bed, reaching for Goku's hair. "We wouldn't leave you."

Goku flinched, his face twisting. "I have to…" He struggled to stand up. Sanzo tried to steady him but Goku tore away harshly. He stumbled for the bathroom.

Gojyo scowled. "What was that about? It's like he's scared of us. The way he was stuck to you like a burr in his sleep, Sanzo…he can't be afraid, right?"

"Wrong," Hakkai said and they both turned to him, quizzical expressions sliding over their faces. "Obviously, deep down Goku knows we won't hurt him and he needed us last night but…how to say this without being offensive? Rakesh smoked. You saw what he did with those cigarettes. You two have breath like you've been licking ashtrays. Goku's nose is even more sensitive. I can only imagine that the smell of cigarettes is bringing back horrible memories."

"Fuck," Gojyo said. He went to the table and emptied all the ashtrays into the trash.

Sanzo scowled. "Toothbrushes are in there with Goku." He put away his pack of smokes.

"Better see if we can find mints or something. You and I will never make it a whole day without smoking," Gojyo said.

"I'd hate to think on what would happen if you tried not smoking," Hakkai replied as Sanzo put the trash can in the hall.

Gojyo opened the window to air out the room in spite of the cold. "It would be uglier than us smoking in front of him. I'll go get some mints or something and I'll have them send up some warm breakfast to go with the leftovers."

"Good idea," Hakkai said, starting to tidy up the room while Sanzo settled back down with his paper, not really reading as he was lost in his dark thoughts. Hakkai stared at the article on the back of the paper, knowing it was about Rakesh's death and his role in the murders but he couldn't force himself to read it. Finally, he got up.

Sanzo looked up at him. "Thinking the same thing I am?"

"That Goku's been a little long in the shower?" Hakkai nodded, his face grimly concerned. "I'll check on him."

Before Hakkai could move, Gojyo came back. He flipped Sanzo a tin of mints off the tray he carried before setting it down. He had a thick robe tossed over his shoulder. "There's plenty there for breakfast," he said, sucking on a mint of his own.

Sanzo popped in a mint. "I'll go check on Goku, Hakkai."

"What? The kid's still in the shower?" A line of worry creased Gojyo's brow and Hakkai nodded.

Sanzo went into the bathroom with Hakkai and Gojyo moving in his wake. They found Goku huddled on the floor of the shower, a wash cloth balled in his hand. The boy rocked back and forth where he sat, his skin red from the heat and the scrubbing he had so obviously done judging by the blood stains washing out of the cloth.

"Goku," Sanzo called softly and Goku hunched up tighter. Sanzo slipped off his gloves then reached into the shower. He gently touched Goku's shoulder. When Goku didn't move, Sanzo leaned in and turned off the water before gathering Goku up. The boy didn't fight him as Sanzo got him out of the shower. Hakkai handed Goku a towel and the young man started mechanically drying off. Hakkai draped another one over Goku's head.

Goku peered out from behind his wet bangs. "Thanks," he said softly.

"Got something for you here," Gojyo said, opening the robe he had over his shoulder. "Saw it and thought it might be good for you to lounge around in today. You need to take it easy, kiddo."

Goku just nodded, his eyes dull as Gojyo helped him into it. He put an arm around Goku's shoulders and the boy melted against him. "I just feel bad," he whispered.

"We know," Gojyo assured him, squeezing Goku's shoulders.

"I kept calling and no one came," Goku said, his voice catching. He buried his face against Gojyo's chest.

"I heard but It took me time to figure out where you were calling from," Sanzo said, the violet in his eyes deepening. "I'm sorry."

Goku nodded but broke away from them, shaking as he went into the other room. Sanzo caught up to him, putting a hand on his shoulder. "You need to eat something."

"Not hungry," Goku mumbled, hunching up miserably.

"You lost a lot of blood, Goku. Your body needs fuel to help you heal," Hakkai said gently and Goku let himself be led to the table.

Pulling the thick robe tighter around his body, bruises and fresh towel-abrasions apparent on his pale skin, Goku sagged on his chair. He listlessly stabbed a cold, fried devil into his congee and made a half hearted attempt to eat. Gojyo pushed a plate towards him. "I found you some lamb-filled steamed buns."

"Thanks," Goku said, half heartedly taking one. He looked at the white orb then crushed it down on his plate. "He poisoned my food…that's how he…" Goku's face went grey-green and he nearly knocked the chair down trying to get up. He barely made it to the toilet before his stomach rebelled on him.

Goku heaved and gagged until nothing but bile-streaked mucus streamed out of his mouth as tears and snot ran down his face. He heard the tap turn on then felt a warm wet towel going over his mouth. Goku rested back into Sanzo's arms as the priest cleaned his face.

"You didn't get it all over you," Sanzo said, feeling utterly helpless.

Goku tried to answer but all that came out was a shuddering sob. Sanzo tossed the towel into the tub with a plop then picked Goku up bodily. He carried Goku into the bedroom and put him down on the mattress. Goku wouldn't let go, dragging Sanzo half down onto the bed. Sanzo sat next to him as Goku bawled and shivered. At a loss, comforting being something he just wasn't good at, Sanzo wrapped his arms around Goku, letting the boy weep. Hakkai and Gojyo ringed around them, three sets of hands petting and soothing Goku until the boy finally cried himself out.

Goku went limp in Sanzo's arms, slithering out until he collapsed on the bed. He rubbed his eyes viciously. His voice was rough and stuffy when he snarled, "He caught me easy. I'm so stupid."

"Goku, no matter what some of us might tease you about, you are not stupid," Hakkai said, patting Goku's arm.

"I am. None of you would have eaten up poppy syrup," Goku argued. "I'm so weak."

"So that's what it was," Sanzo said, frowning. "That shit's addictive."

"Never want it again," Goku assured him, tears still leaking from the corner of his eyes.

"Goku, if you didn't smell it, trust me none of us would. Especially me and Sanzo. Our noses aren't worth shit," Gojyo said, tapping the side of his.

"Did smell it. He told me it was a local spice and I believed him." Goku dragged in a stuttering breath.

"Why wouldn't you?" Sanzo asked. "Did you think he was the killer?"

"Should have…he was all weird and stuff when Hakkai and I talked to him," Goku said, seeming bound and determined to think the worst of himself.

"Goku, a lot of people didn't like our questions," Hakkai reminded him. "Rakesh didn't seem much more suspicious than anyone else."

"But he got me and you had to save me. Now he can come back for more girls, for me." A full body shudder tore through the boy.

"Oh, Goku, no, you're safe." Hakkai squeezed his shoulder.

"What makes you think we'd leave him alive?" Sanzo asked and the word 'but' started to form on Goku's lips.

"Shit, you really never do remember what happens when your limiter comes off," Gojyo said. "Monkey, that fucker isn't coming back for anyone. Sanzo shot him. Lan's brother shot him. I sliced him up and after Hakkai was done with him, Tai-Shan's men had to pick him up with sponges. But before all that, you gutted him yourself."

Goku raised his hands above his face. "I did?"

"You got worked up and the limiter broke," Sanzo said, running a hand through Goku's bangs. "If you hadn't been bleeding so badly, you wouldn't have needed us at all."

"I need you." Goku let his hands fall and he curled up. "He hurt me so bad."

"He's never hurting anyone again," Sanzo assured him.

"Gotta think I'm a wuss…couldn't get away," Goku mumbled into the mattress.

"We think nothing of the kind. Goku, you were drugged, strangled and tortured. You very nearly bled to death," Hakkai said, rubbing Goku's back. "Which is why we'd really like you to eat a little, even if you don't feel like it. The food is safe. You're safe. Want to try again?" Hakkai gave Goku an encouraging look but the boy's muttered response was unintelligible.

Gojyo stacked up three pillows against the headboard. Snaring a surprised Goku, he pulled the boy into a sitting position and reclined him against the pillows. Gojyo tossed the covers up over him. "You sit there and we'll bring you something."

"Okay," Goku consented as Jeep perched on the headboard looking down into Goku's face. He reached up and petted the beast.

They gave him a bowl of congee and some of the steamed lamb-filled buns. Goku still ate without any enthusiasm but he did eat. "Did I…I didn't hurt Tai-Shan or anyone did I when my limiter broke?" Goku fretted around a mouthful of bun.

"No, no one was hurt," Sanzo replied, picking up his paper.

"Excuse me!" Gojyo held up his bandaged arm. "What do you call this? Why do you always bite me? No one else, just me. I probably have monkey germs now." Gojyo grinned at Goku.

"Good," Goku replied with a hint of his usual humor.

Gojyo snorted at him then exchanged looks with the other two men. For the first time, they held out hope that things would get back to normal, with time given for Goku to heal.

XXX

A knock on the door startled the men. Sanzo glanced up from the book he borrowed from Hakkai. The priest lounged on the second bed while Goku slumbered fitfully. Hakkai set down his cards and Gojyo got up. "Just as well," he grumbled, "you're beating me again, Hakkai."

"Sorry." Hakkai's placid smile inched across his face as Gojyo headed for the door.

To their surprise, Balram, Maidar, Intan and Jiao standing there. Intan smiled hesitantly at Gojyo, her eyes roving over him. "We were wondering if we could see Goku, if he's feeling up to visitors. We know he got hurt."

Gojyo turned and looked back at the bed. Goku was rubbing his eyes. "He was sleeping, let me ask. Goku? You have some friends here to see you. You feel okay?"

He nodded, gathering the blankets like a shield around him. "Yeah."

Gojyo stepped back and let the teens inside. Jiao waved Goku down as the boy started to swing out of bed.

"Stay," she said. "You just relax. We won't stay too long, if you don't feel so good."

"Yes, do rest. You're the same color as the sheets," Intan said.

"Okay, you visit, Goku. I'm gonna go out for a little while," Gojyo said, speeding out the door.

"Great idea. We won't go far," Sanzo said, rolling off the bed and disappearing without another word.

"Don't they like us?" Maidar asked slightly annoyed.

"Yeah, where's everyone going, Hakkai?" Goku fretted.

Hakkai laughed. "Goku, I think this is the longest those two have ever gone without a cigarette. I'm sure all the fresh air was driving them insane or else they would have figured out to go out and sneak one. I'll just be down in the restaurant. I could use some tea."

"They weren't smoking when I was asleep?" Goku sniffed the air. "I didn't…wow."

Hakkai smiled, seeing the realization of the sacrifice registering with Goku. He pulled the door shut behind him. True to his prediction, Sanzo and Gojyo were lost in a blue-white haze. Hakkai was half surprised they didn't have two cigarettes hanging out of their mouths trying to play catch up. "Are you two under all that smoke?"

"Don't be a smart ass," Gojyo said as Hakkai sat down. "The kid's okay with us all going?"

"Seems to be. He knows where I went," Hakkai replied. "I figured the kids would rather visit without us around and it might be good for Goku. He doesn't have anyone his…uh, age." Hakkai shrugged helplessly. Twenty times as old as his companions, and yet younger than them at the same time, Hakkai was never sure where Goku fit in.

"We won't be gone long anyhow," Gojyo said, lighting another cigarette from the tip of the one he had smoked down.

"How long do you think it'll be before Goku's up to traveling?" Sanzo asked.

Hakkai flagged down the waitress and ordered his tea before answering. "Goku's strong. He'll recover fast. I'd like him to rest another day, if he's willing. I'm not sure he'd be so good in a fight just now. Hakuryuu is looking much better so we can go if we need to." Hakkai looked over at the door way, seeing Tai-Shan coming in.

The law man came over and Hakkai waved for him to sit which he did. "How is your little friend?"

"Recovering, thank you," Hakkai replied as his tea arrived.

"Is everything over with now?" Sanzo asked.

Tai-Shan nodded. "We're still reading all the journals but no one is going to shed a tear Rakesh's gone." He took a long look at Hakkai and then Gojyo then harrumphed. "I would never have guessed it of you three."

"I notice you haven't said anything to anyone." Hakkai's fingers trailed over his limiters.

"And we're glad of it. Happy with us or not, that usually gets us moving out of town fast and Goku could do with the rest," Gojyo said.

Tai-Shan shrugged. "You did us a favor. We're doing you one. You don't seem like a bad sort."

Sanzo snorted and Hakkai sipped at his tea before saying, "We're just sorry we didn't figure it out in time to help your sister."

Tai-Shan's head bowed. "Nor did I, which is something I will always have to live with." He stood up. "Stay as long as you need to. Dad's grateful to you as well."

They watched him go then Hakkai turned back to his tea and the others to their cigarettes. Tea drained, Hakkai pushed back from the table.

"Time to check on the monkey," Gojyo said, stretching.

"The kids might be done visiting and he surely won't want to be left alone," Hakkai said and they took some final desperate drags on their cigarettes before following him up.

They timed it right, the teens were hovering in the doorway saying their goodbyes. They waved and left, thanking Goku, calling him a hero. They added the same to his companions as Gojyo and Sanzo popped a few mints into their mouths.

"Yes, I'm sure those will help," Hakkai said, their clothing so perfumed with cigarettes all they'd need to do to get by would be to sniff them. When he entered the room, Goku was sitting with his back to the headboard, Jeep in his arms, the dragon's head snuggled under his chin.

His gold eyes, flat and cool, fixed on them. "I don't feel like a hero."

"You stopped a mad man, you should," Sanzo replied.

Goku set Jeep aside, crossing his arms over his chest as if catching a sudden chill. "I think I know what Hakkai's sister must have felt like." Tears formed and trickled.

Hakkai's breath caught then he went and sat on the edge of the bed, folding Goku against his chest. He embraced the boy tight, tears of his own wending their way down the planes of his cheeks. "Know something, Goku, something I couldn't convince Kannan of. You're not alone. We're here for you."

Goku put his arms around Hakkai, squeezing until the man's ribs creaked. "I know," he said muffled against Hakkai's chest.

Hakkai just held on to Goku, ignoring the helpless shuffling as their friends looked on at a loss as to what to do. His voice was rough when he said, "I think I might have been wrong about the two graves. You and I, we both got our vengeance, even if we paid a high price."

"Better than dyin'," Goku mumbled then lifted his head and looked at Sanzo. "You were gonna do a sutra for Lan. I wanna hear it now." Goku's voice was strident and demanding, taking Sanzo aback. The priest hesitated.

"Come on, we know you don't sing them for the dead but you have the living here," Gojyo reminded him.

Fishing out his signature headgear, Sanzo sat cross-legged on the floor and began the prayer. Goku relaxed in slow measures in Hakkai's arms, his eyes fluttering shut. The exhausted boy drifted off and Hakkai tucked him under the covers as Sanzo finished the sutra. "He needed to hear that," Hakkai said, tears still trickling down his face.

"Goku's hardly the religious type," Sanzo said, plucking the crown off his head.

"I think he just wanted to hear your voice, baldy," Gojyo replied.

"I don't think you realize how crystalline and melodious you really are, Sanzo," Hakkai said. "Sometimes it does us good to hear it." Hakkai got up to make his way to the table only to encounter Gojyo, who slipped an arm over his shoulders.

"What you said to Goku, about not being alone, you're not either, you know that right?" Gojyo asked.

Hakkai wiped his wet face. "I could use some sake."

Sanzo got up. "The innkeeper said anything we wanted. I'll get beer and sake sent up." The priest left, looking happy to have something to do.

Hakkai slumped at the table. "No one should know what it feels like, to be helpless and tortured…and yet all of us do, don't we?"

"Yeah." Gojyo patted Hakkai's back. "Our lives occasionally suck hard. Still regretting we killed that fucker so fast."

Hakkai's eyes hardened. "You're not alone."

XXX

Goku woke up, his heart thundering. Where was he? He flailed around, frightened, then realized he knew the shape lying beside him. His fingers hit warmed metal, Hakkai's limiters, and the man half woke up. Goku pulled his arm back, looking past Hakkai to see Gojyo sprawled, hogging up some of Hakkai's space, Jeep half covering Gojyo's head.

Twisting, Goku found Sanzo beside him. He rolled over and put an arm over Sanzo's chest, cushioning his cheek on the priest's sternum. He could hear the steady beat of Sanzo's heart and feel the rise and fall of his rib cage. A subtle hint of sake clung to the man. Hakkai was right, Goku wasn't alone and it felt very good.

He looked over his shoulder to see Hakkai had settled back down into sleep. Goku tried to do the same, hoping he hadn't woken up Sanzo, too. Just then, Sanzo's fingers buried in the thick hair along the back of Goku's head, massaging his scalp lazily. Sighing, Goku let himself be lulled back to sleep.

EPILOGUE

"Oh, good, we got you before you left," Huan said, hustling over to Jeep, Tai-Shan moving in his wake. "We brought you some meals to tide you over to the next town." He handed Gojyo the package.

"Thanks."

"Are you sure you're up to going?" Huan looked at Goku's pale face. "It's still awfully cold and snowy and you look exhausted."

"He'll be fine," Sanzo said. "We have to get back on track."

The innkeeper didn't look convinced. He gestured at his son who offered Goku a thick pillow and a stout blanket. "You bundle up good, boy. You've been through too much to catch your death now."

"Thanks," Goku smiled wanly and put the pillow half in Gojyo's lap, fluffing it with a thump. The kappa yelped.

"We wanted to give you something, Goku," Tai-Shan said. "I know you were fond of my sister and she really liked you. Here, she would have wanted you to have this, I think." He handed Goku Lan's bamboo flute.

Goku stared at it in shock. "Are you sure? I mean, I didn't know her very long and this was special to her. Don't you want to keep it?"

Tai-Shan shook his head. "You did your best to find my sister that night and you paid a high price for it. Please, keep it."

Goku nodded, "Thank you. I'll make sure it's safe."

"We'd better let you go before any more daylight is wasted," Tai-Shan said and Goku put the flute away in his pack.

As Hakkai got Jeep underway, the frigid air blowing over them, Goku fluffed up the pillow again and cocooned himself in the blanket. Gojyo shifted around, trying to get comfortable then pulled out his cigarettes. Goku's eyes widened. Gojyo grimaced and put them back.

"It's okay, Gojyo. You can smoke," Goku said, tucking his face under the covers.

"Nah, it's okay." Gojyo put his hand on Goku's shoulder as the boy shut his eyes, trying for sleep.

Several miles later, Sanzo turned and looked back at them. Gojyo raised an eyebrow. "What, Baldy?"

"You're never quiet. I was just making sure you didn't bounce out."

"My ass is frozen to the seat but at least one of us is warm." Gojyo gestured to Goku.

Sanzo's smile was so brief Gojyo thought he might have imagined it then the priest turned back around. Hearing Goku's soft snores, Gojyo lit up. Things weren't back to normal yet but they would be. He had faith in that.


End file.
